Comparison between echocardiography finding and cardiac catheterization data in diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PHT) is a common accompaniment of many congenital
cardiac lesions. Cardiac catheterization is the gold standard method for confirming the diagnosis
of PHT and for guiding management. Doppler ultrasound also can be used non-invasively to
estimate the pulmonary artery pressure.
Material and Methods: We reviewed the clinical history, examination and echocardiogram of 84
patients (male=50, female=34) [mean age = 4.2 y (3m-15y) who underwent cardiac catheterization
for their congenital heart problem in our pediatric cardiology ward (Mar 2001-Apr 2002). The
patients were divided into pulmonary hypertension (PHT) group and normal pulmonary artery
pressure (NPAP) group according to the results of catheterization.
Results: PHT was diagnosed in 40 patients (47%) by catheterization compared with 42 patients
(50%) by echocardiography. Mean age of PHT groups was 3.38 years (3 months to 4 years) by 24
male (60%); and 5.5y (8-15) by 26 male (59%) in NPAP group. The sensitivity and specificity of
echocardiography in diagnosis of PHT was 100% and 95% respectively. The positive predictive
value of echocardiography was 95% and the negative predictive value was 100%.
Conclusions: These results indicate similar diagnostic power by echocardiography and
catheterization in identifying pulmonary hypertension.