
The magnitude of a left-to-right shunt in atrial septal defects was evaluated independently in catheterizations of the heart according to saturations and characteristics of the shunt stream in colour-flow Doppler echocardiography. The ratio of the pulmonary and systemic flow (Qp/Qs) assessed in 14 patients with atrial septal defects during catheterization correlated significantly with the maximal breadth (r = 0.8; p less than 0.001) and maximum area (r = 0.78; p less than 0.01) of the visualized shunted stream in transthoracic colour-flow Doppler echocardiography. Examination by means of transoesophageal colour-flow Doppler echocardiography in 8 patients revealed a correlation only with the maximal breadth of the shunted stream (r = 0.95; p less than 0.001). The magnitude of the maximum area of the shunted stream in transthoracic colour-flow Doppler echocardiography made it only possible to differentiate patients with a significant and not significant left-to-right shunt, i.e. Qp/Qs greater or smaller than 1.5:1. All patients with a shunt greater than 1.5:1 had a maximal area of the shunted stream greater than 10 sq.cm or 6 sq.cm/sq.m resp. Colour-flow Doppler echocardiography is a suitable method for the semiquantitative evaluation of the haemodynamic significance of atrial septal defects in adult patients.
Adult, Male, Adolescent, Humans, Female, Middle Aged, Echocardiography, Doppler, Heart Septal Defects, Atrial
Adult, Male, Adolescent, Humans, Female, Middle Aged, Echocardiography, Doppler, Heart Septal Defects, Atrial
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