Right ventricular function evaluated by thermodilution method in patients with chronic pulmonary diseases

The right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) is an objective evaluation of the right ventricular systolic function. Recently a rapid-response thermister pulmonary artery catheter which measures RVEF and stroke volume (SV) was introduced. With this new method, RVEF and the right ventricular volumes (RVV) were measured in patients with chronic pulmonary diseases (CPD) and normal subjects. In addition, to evaluate the validity of this method, the data was compared with Kr81m perfusion method. The RVEF and the RVV of CPD patients were also compared with pulmonary hemodynamic data. There was a good correlation between the RVEFs obtained by the Kr81m perfusion method and the TD method. (r = 0.71, p less than 0.001). There was a tendency towards a low RVEF in patient with CPD with pulmonary hypertension (PAm greater than 20 mmHg) or high pulmonary vascular resistance (PAR greater than 160 dyne/sec/cm-5) and the RVV increased in the same group. These results suggested that the right ventricle was unable to respond to the increase of afterload in the CPD group and the evaluation of RVEF and RVV in patients with CPD using the new TD method was valuable for assessing the right ventricular function.