Noninvasive Assessment of Right Heart Function by ^81mKr Equilibrium Radionuclide Ventriculography in Chronic Pulmonary Diseases

¹ From the Second Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University, School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan

Noninvasive multigated equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography with krypton-81m (^81mKr) was used to assess right heart relaxation in patients with chronic pulmonary diseases (CPD). The subjects consisted of 30 patients with CPD and 8 patients free of cardiopulmonary diseases admitted to our department. A region of interest (ROI) was selected on both the right atrium (RA) and right ventricle (RV). A time activity curve was obtained for each ROI. As a diastolic index of the right heart performance, the right atrial early emptying rate (RAER) was obtained from the right atrial time activity curve, while the right ventricular rapid filling rate (RVRFR) was obtained from the right ventricular time activity curve. The mean RAER was significantly lower in CPD patients compared with the control (CPD, 9.5±4.5; control, 16±3.4%/100 ms). Similarly, the mean RVRFR was significantly lower in CPD patients compared with the control (CPD, 27.3±9.9; control, 34±8.5%/100 ms). A strong negative correlation was noted between the mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) and RAER (r=-0.77; p<0.001) and between the mPAP and the RVRFR (r=-0.63; p<0.001). Our results suggest that RAER and RVRFR measured by ^81mKr are clinically useful in the noninvasive assessment of right heart relaxation in patients with CPD.

Key Words: pulmonary hypertension • right atrial early emptying rate • right ventricular rapid filling rate

Submitted on March 29, 1995
Accepted on June 22, 2007

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