NONINVASIVE ESTIMATION OF RIGHT-VENTRICULAR DP DT IN PATIENTS WITH TRICUSPID-VALVE REGURGITATION

The role of right ventricular (RV) function has been proven to be important in various cardiac diseases, including coronary artery disease1,2 or dilated cardiomyopathy. The use of Doppler echocardiography to measure RV inflow has permitted assessment of RV diastolic function in various diseases.3 However, the Doppler echocardiographic approach of RV systolic function remains neglected. A Doppler-derived rate of left ventricular pressure rise using the mitral regurgitant flow velocity pattern, recorded by continuous-wave Doppler echocardiography, has proved to be correlated with peak dP dt obtained at cardiac catheterization.4,5 Because tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is often found in a variety of cardiac diseases and in normal subjects,6 we hypothesized that the rate of RV pressure rise could be predicted from the continuous-wave TR signal, in a way similar to that used for the rate of left ventricular pressure rise. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to correlate Doppler-derived RV dP dt with dP dt obtained simultaneously from invasive measurements. © 1993.