Comparing certain echocardiographic measurements with catheterization in children with pulmonary hypertension due to left-to-right cardiac shunt

Abstract

Background: Children with left-to-right cardiac shunt are at increasing risk of developing pulmonary hypertension and it's degree will guides the line of management of those patients. However, cardiac catheterization is the standard way to investigate PHT, and echocardiography shows an increasing role in diagnosis. Objectives: To check the consistency of noninvasive echocardiographic parameters with that is measured by conventional cardiac catheterization in assessing children with pulmonary hypertension due to congenital heart disease (PHT-CHD). Materials and Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study included 60 children with PHT-CHD we assessed six echocardiographic parameters; pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), mean pulmonary artery pressure (MPAP), pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), pulmonary to systemic flow (QP/QS), acceleration time of right ventricular outflow tract, and shunt gradients. Then these data were compared with same catheterization parameters. Results: There insignificant difference among PVR, MPAP, PCWP, and QP/QS measured by catheterization and the same parameters measured by echocardiography with P > 0.05. The total sensitivity of echocardiographic measurements was 94.23%, specificity 91.45%, positive predictive value 90.71%, and negative predictive value 87.35%. Conclusion: Echocardiographic measurements show respectable similarity to catheterization results in patients with PHT-CHD.