Abstract

OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the reliability of various multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) parameters for diagnosis and severity assessment of pulmonary hypertension (PH) with consideration of World Health Organization (WHO) classification.
METHODS
A total of 172 patients were included in this retrospective study. One hundred fourteen patients had a diagnosis of PH (mean pulmonary artery pressure ≥25 mm Hg), and 58 patients without PH (mean pulmonary artery pressure <20 mm Hg) served as control subjects. The patients with PH were grouped according to the WHO classification based on PH etiology.
RESULTS
The patients with PH had significantly greater main, left, and right pulmonary artery diameters than the control subjects (P < 0.001). No significant differences within the PH subgroups were found. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed reasonable sensitivity and specificity for selected MDCT parameters. The severity of PH did not correlate with MDCT parameters.
CONCLUSIONS
Easy-to-determine MDCT parameters allow detection of PH independent of the WHO group. In patients with dilated aorta, the vertebra can be an alternative internal standard. Severity of PH cannot be estimated by MDCT parameters.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Dornia C, Lange TJ, Behrens G, Stiefel J, Müller-Wille R, Poschenrieder F, Pfeifer M, Leitzmann M, Manos D, Babar JL, Stroszczynski C, Hamer OW

Institution

Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Regensburg, Germany. christian.dornia@klinik.uni-regensburg.de

Source

Journal of computer assisted tomography 36:2 pg 175-80

MeSH

Aged
Case-Control Studies
Chi-Square Distribution
Female
Heart Catheterization
Humans
Hypertension, Pulmonary
Linear Models
Male
Middle Aged
ROC Curve
Reproducibility of Results
Respiratory Function Tests
Retrospective Studies
Severity of Illness Index
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
World Health Organization

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22446355