Accuracy of Echocardiography in Estimating Pulmonary Artery Pressure

Estimating pulmonary artery (PA) pressure can be an important step in evaluating patients with unexplained peripheral edema or dyspnea. In these cases, how accurate are the estimates provided by echocardiography?

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University measured PA systolic pressures invasively (during right-heart catheterization) and noninvasively (using Doppler echocardiography [DE]) on the same day in 65 patients who were referred for diagnosis or management of pulmonary hypertension. The mean PA systolic pressure as measured during cardiac catheterization was 69 mm Hg. Although noninvasive and invasive measurements correlated statistically, DE overestimated PA pressure by more than 10 mm Hg in 27% of cases, and underestimated PA pressure …