[Changes in blood flow of the pulmonary artery valve studied by Doppler echocardiography in patients with pulmonary hypertension].

Blood flow in the vicinity of the pulmonary-arterial valve was examined in 20 normal subjects and 42 patients with pulmonary hypertension. Four major types were identified in the flow spectrum. Six flow classes were further identified on the basis of their combinations in the same patients. These classes were correlated with a number of hemodynamic parameters. They were shown to be related to systolic pulmonary-arterial blood pressure and total vascular resistance, but unrelated to diastolic and mean blood pressure in the pulmonary artery. There was no correlation with the cardiac cycle duration, ejection time, and cardiac output either, although the latter parameters differed significantly between normal subjects and patients with pulmonary hypertension. The classes identified permit a semiquantitative assessment of systolic blood pressure in the pulmonary artery and total peripheral resistance.