Usefulness of left and right oblique subcostal view in the echo-Doppler investigation of pulmonary arterial blood flow in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The subxiphoid view in the echo-Doppler evaluation of pulmonary blood flow.

Fifty-nine adult patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) underwent Doppler and two-dimensional echocardiographic examination to determine the variability of pulmonary arterial blood flow (PABF) from multiple views. Measurement of peak flow velocity (PFV), acceleration time (AT), right ventricular ejection time (RVET), and pulmonary arterial diameter (PAD) was possible in 52 patients (88 percent) by left oblique subcostal view (LOSV), in 38 patients (64.4 percent) by right oblique subcostal view (ROSV), and in only 12 patients (20.3 percent) by short axis parasternal view (SAPV) (p less than 0.05). Overall, PABF was measured in 55 patients (93.2 percent). The LOSV gave consistently higher values of PVF than those obtained either by ROSV (p less than 0.05) or by SAPV (p less than 0.05). We conclude that LOSV and ROSV allow measurement of PABF in the majority of patients with COPD.