Right ventricular size and function as assessed by echocardiography and angiography in patients with different volume load.

A comparative study of right ventricular (RV) function, assessed by echocardiography and angiography, undertaken in 20 patients, 10 of whom had atrial septal defects (ASDs) and 10 had various other heart diseases. All of the measured echocardiographic variables of RV size, apart from RV length, were larger in the patients with ASD. When assessed by multiple regression analysis, the RV M-mode dimension was an independent variable of RV angiographic end-diastolic volume (EDV) in patients without RV volume load (R = 0.92, R2 = 0.85, p < 0.001). In the patients with ASD, echocardiographic RV end-diastolic area was an independent variable of angiographic RVEDV (R = 0.75, R2 = 0.55, p < 0.05), whereas M-mode dimension had a weaker correlation (r = 0.29). The agreement between RV ejection fraction (RVEF) obtained by echocardiography and angiography was moderate in both patient groups. However, fractional area change and fractional length change could not estimate RVEF better. Thus care should be taken to use single measurements and derivatives as the only parameters of RV size and function.