Assessment of left ventricular function of pulmonary hypertension patients by real-time three dimensional echocardiography

Objective To assess the changes of left ventricule and analyze the influential factors in pulmonary hypertension (PH) by comparing the changes of left ventricular volume and function using single cardiac cycle real-time three dimensional echocardiography ( sRT-3DE ) and two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE).Methods In case group,there were 30 inpatients diagnosed as PH,systolic pulmonary artery pressure(PASP)≥40 mmHg estimated by echocardiography,excluding left heart disease or congenital systemic-pulmonary circulation shunt.There were 30 healthy people as control group.Conventional 2DE and sRT-3DE were performed in both groups and obtained 2D and 3D parameters.Results ①In case group,the 2D-LVEF were significantly larger than 3D-LVEF (P ＜ 0.01 ).There was less agreement of 2DE and 3DE in case group than in control.②Comparing with the control group,left ventricular EDV,ESV and SV in ease group decreased ( P ＜0.01 ),so as to 3D-LVEF ( P ＜0.05).The left ventricular spherical index(SIs,SId)and eccentric index (EId,EIs ) in case group were significantly larger than those in control group ( P ＜0.01 ).③LVEDV in case group was negatively correlated with PASP (r =- 0.47),and positively correlated with RVSV and RVEF ( r =0.84,0.66) ;3D-LVEF in case group was negatively correlated with PASP ( r =- 0.54),and positively correlated with RVSV and RVEF ( r =0.58,0.53); there was no significant correlation between LVEDV and RVEDV.LVEDV was negatively correlated with SIs and SId ( r =-0.65,-0.61),so as to EId and EIs ( r =-0.67,0.67).LVEF was negatively correlated with SIs and SId ( r =-0.64,-0.61),so as to EId and EIs ( r =-0.66,-0.68),and the corresponding P all above were less than 0.01.Conclusions PH can result in reductions of left ventricular volume and systolic function,and the variations of which have the correlations with the severity of PH and the increase in SI and EI.sRT-3DE can provide a method to get more accurate information of left ventricle. Key words: Echocardiography, real-time three-dimensional;  Hypertension, pulmonary;  Ventricular function, left