Pulmonary venous flow Doppler velocities in children.

We report the results of a prospective study of pulmonary venous (PV) flow Doppler velocities in 68 normal children. We sought to establish the normal PV flow velocities in the broad pediatric population, compare these velocities to heart rate and age. In normal children, there is a wide range of PV flow velocities, most of which correlate with age and heart rate. However, the PV flow velocities and their durations do not distinguish the age groups. The peak velocity of systolic forward flow and atrial reversal flow in the pulmonary vein were independent of heart rate. The PV flow peak systolic velocity showed a weak correlation with the velocity of the mitral inflow early wave. However, the velocity of atrial reversal flow showed no correlation with the mitral inflow A velocity (late wave), which is generated by the same force of atrial contraction.