Echocardiographic techniques for assessing pulmonary artery pressure

Abstract

This paper aims to perform an analysis of the indirect methods of pulmonary artery pressure assessment based on the scientific literature. Through bibliographic survey, scientific articles were selected according to their relevance to the theme.The assessment of pulmonary artery pressure allows to infer whether the individual has pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), which is associated with a poor prognosis in dogs diagnosed with mitral valve degeneration. The standard examination is pulmonary artery catheterization, but this method has not been used in routine veterinary medicine because the clinical status of the animal usually does not allow sedation and it is a costly procedure. The diagnosis of PAH in small animals through Doppler echocardiography can be obtained by evaluating the regurgitation of the tricuspid or pulmonary valve, subjective characteristics and measurement of the acceleration time (AT) and the acceleration time-to-ejection time ratio of pulmonary artery (AT:ET), pulmonary artery-to-pulmonary vein ratio, distensibility of the right pulmonary artery (RAPD), and assessment of right ventricular function, especially TEI index and strain. The aim of this review was to demonstrate the main echocardiographic techniques to estimate PAH, with the intention of contributing to the cardiologist in the diagnosis of PAH. All techniques have positive and negative factors however, it is important to emphasize that there is no ideal technique, and the most assertive way to arrive at the diagnosis is to associate the different techniques.