This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sahn, D. J. Articles by Goldberg, S. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Sahn, D. J. Articles by Goldberg, S. J.

Circulation, Vol 56, 959-968, Copyright © 1977 by American Heart Association

ARTICLES

The utility of contrast echocardiographic techniques in the care of critically ill infants with cardiac and pulmonary disease

DJ Sahn, HD Allen, W George, M Mason and SJ Goldberg

In order to assess the utility of contrast M-mode echocardiography in an intensive care nursery population of critically ill newborns with cardiac and pulmonary disease and to validate contrast echo methods, we performed 200 serial contrast echoes on 40 infants via umbilical arterial or venous catheters which had been placed into these infants for clinical indications. The resulting contrast echoes recorded from the precordium or the suprasternal notch allowed the delineation of intra- and extracardiac right-to-left and left-to-right shunting patterns. Patterns identified and validated by cardiac catheterization (in cardiac patients) were: right-to-left atrial shunts, right-to-left ventricular shunts, and left-to-right patent ductus arteriosus shunts. The studies were without complication. Serial application of these echocardiographic techniques was extremely important in assessing changing physiology in these neonates. Contrast echocardiography adds physiologic flow information to the anatomical information available from M-mode echoes and is quite important in the diagnosis and sometimes in the management of critically ill newborns.