Accuracy of Doppler Echocardiography in Pulmonary Hypertension

In some cases, this technique overestimated or underestimated pulmonary artery systolic pressure substantially.


Clinicians often use Doppler echocardiography (DE) to diagnose pulmonary hypertension, even though research has shown that echocardiographic measurements of pulmonary artery pressure can be inaccurate. Now, researchers have revisited this issue in a study that involved 160 patients with presumed pulmonary hypertension who underwent DE and right heart catheterization within 30 days.

DE measurements of pulmonary artery systolic pressure differed from catheter measurements by more than 10 mm Hg in half the cases; of these, 41% were overestimates, and 59% were underestimates. In several patients, discrepancies between DE and catheter measurements exceeded 40 mm Hg; some were overestimates, and some were underestimates. In another cohort of 23 patients who underwent DE during right heart catheterization, results were similar to those in the sequential cohort.


Citation(s):

Rich JD et al. Inaccuracy of Doppler echocardiographic estimates of pulmonary artery pressures in patients with pulmonary hypertension: Implications for clinical practice. Chest 2011 May; 139:988.