Determination of right ventricular ejection fraction in children with cystic fibrosis.

The radionuclide right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) determined by means of Krypton-81m represents a simple, noninvasive, and accurate procedure to quantify the right ventricular contractility. This procedure was applied to 25 young patients with cystic fibrosis. The RVEF tended to decrease with the progression of the lung disease, as assessed by the clinical S-K score, the degree of the defects on lung scintigraphy, the PaO2, and the lung function tests. However, the decrease of RVEF in patients with marked lung function tests. However, the decrease of RVEF in patients with marked lung involvement was moderate, and terminal lung disease was sometimes associated with normal right heart contractility.