Portal Vein Pulsatility Ratio Provides a Measure of Right Heart Function in Chronic Heart Failure
✍ Scribed by Carlo Rengo; Gregorio Brevetti; Gianpaolo Sorrentino; Teresa D’Amato; Margherita Imparato; Dino F Vitale; Domenico Acanfora; Franco Rengo
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 168 KB
- Volume
- 24
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0301-5629
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Portal vein flow was recorded by color Doppler sonography in 31 patients with chronic heart failure and 18 control subjects. Compared with patients showing a forward flow (Group A), those with reversed portal vein flow (Group B) had higher prevalence of tricuspid regurgitation (75% vs. 43%), hepatic congestion (100% vs. 30%) and ascites (50% vs. 18%), and showed higher right atrial pressure (25.3 ؎ 3.01 mmHg vs. 11.8 ؎ 5.75 mmHg, p < 0.01). In controls, portal vein pulsatility ratio was 0.66 ؎ 0.08, in Group A it was 0.46 ؎ 0.28 (p < 0.01), in Group B ؊0.60 ؎ 0.19 (p < 0.01). Portal vein pulsatility ratio negatively correlated with right atrial pressure (r ؍ ؊0.87; p < 0.01). In Group A, hepatic congestion, ascites and tricuspid regurgitation were associated with a higher portal vein pulsatility. This study indicates that portal vein pulsatility ratio reflects the level of impairment of the right heart.