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    Abstract:
    Abstract Aims The aim of this study is to investigate determinants of left atrial (LA) reservoir and pump strain and if these parameters may serve as non-invasive markers of left ventricular (LV) filling pressure. Methods and results In a multicentre study of 322 patients with cardiovascular disease of different aetiologies, LA strain and other echocardiographic parameters were compared with invasively measured LV filling pressure. The strongest determinants of LA reservoir and pump strain were LV global longitudinal strain (GLS) (r-values 0.64 and 0.51, respectively) and LV filling pressure (r-values −0.52 and −0.57, respectively). Left atrial volume was another independent, but weaker determinant of both LA strains. For both LA strains, association with LV filling pressure was strongest in patients with reduced LV ejection fraction. Left atrial reservoir strain <18% and LA pump strain <8% predicted elevated LV filling pressure better (P < 0.05) than LA volume and conventional Doppler parameters. Accuracy to identify elevated LV filling pressure was 75% for LA reservoir strain alone and 72% for pump strain alone. When combined with conventional parameters, accuracy was 82% for both LA strains. In patients with normal LV systolic function by GLS, LA pump strain >14% identified normal LV filling pressure with 92% accuracy. Conclusion Left atrial reservoir and pump strain are determined predominantly by LV GLS and filling pressure. Accuracy of LA strains to identify elevated LV filling pressure was best in patients with reduced LV systolic function. High values of LA pump strain, however, identified normal LV filling pressure with good accuracy in patients with normal systolic function.
    Keywords:
    Left atrial pressure
    Strain (injury)
    Ventricular pressure
    Pulmonary hypertensive crisis is a complication with extremely high mortality after surgery of congenital heart disease. However, there are still no treatment guidelines or expert consensus on the standard treatment of pulmonary hypertensive crisis, and the effect of conventional treatment is still unsatisfactory. We present a case of a patient who developed pulmonary hypertensive crisis after cardiac surgery, and was successfully rescued with a pioneering method, which has never been reported so far.An infant with congenital heart disease had undergone cardiac surgery successfully. Due to obvious myocardial oedema, sternal closure was delayed. The left atrial and right ventricular pressure monitoring tubes, both of which were connected through a triplet, were inserted into right pulmonary vein and pulmonary artery, respectively, and the triplet was in closed condition. On the night of the surgery, pulmonary hypertensive crisis occurred. Emergency bedside thoracotomy was given, and the triplet was turned on urgently to make the left atrial and right ventricular pressure monitoring tubes connected. Meantime, conventional treatment was performed. Eventually, the pulmonary hypertensive crisis was quickly relieved, and the infant was discharged 9 days later.The left atrial and right ventricular pressure monitoring tubes are placed intraoperatively in patients who both need delayed sternal closure and have high risk factors for pulmonary hypertensive crisis, by which could not only monitor the pressure of left atrium and right ventricle in real time but also effectively relieve the right ventricular pressure instantaneously when pulmonary hypertensive crisis occurs, as well as remedy ischaemia of systemic and coronary circulation.
    Hypertensive crisis
    Left atrial pressure
    Ventricular pressure
    Citations (0)
    Background: Vector Flow Mapping (VFM TM, Hitachi) enables us to obtain intra-left ventricular pressure difference (IVPD) from blood flow velocity data set acquired by color Doppler imaging (CDI). W...
    Ventricular pressure
    Left atrial pressure
    Citations (0)
    A stable model of left ventricular failure is required to test left ventricular assist devices. Supravalvular aortic constriction will cause left atrial pressure to rise to new levels which are stable for several days. When left atrial pressure becomes unstable, an automatically actuated left ventricular assist device will increase its output and prevent pulmonary edema.
    Supravalvular aortic stenosis
    Constriction
    Ventricular pressure
    Left atrial pressure
    Ventricular filling
    Aortic pressure
    Citations (3)