[Specificity and sensitivity of pulmonary valve motion in echocardiographic examination as an index of pulmonary hypertension].

Many investigation have been made to establish the role of echocardiography in the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension based on some parameters derived from the pulmonic valve leaflet echo motion. By observing 160 echo tracings of pulmonary valve motion, the authors calculated the specificity, sensibility and predictive value of these parameters as predictor of pulmonary hypertension, comparing echo data with corresponding haemodynamic determination of pulmonary artery systolic, diastolic and mean pressure and the degree of pulmonary vascular resistances. By means of the statistical analysis of variance correlation between "a" wave depth and severity of pulmonary hypertension was made. "A" wave depth and RPEP/RVET ratio resulted quite sensitive and highly specific indices of pulmonary hypertension, in particular "a" wave depth proved to correlate very well with the level of pulmonary artery systolic, diastolic and mean pressure and with the degree of pulmonary vascular resistances. Highly specific, but not always detectable, was the presence of a midsystolic notch. In conclusion, pulmonary valve echo motion detected by M-mode technique provides useful index of pulmonary hypertension, chiefly by the measurement of "a" wave depth which can also predict its severity.