Impact of general anesthesia on the echocardiographic assessment of right ventricular function in pediatric patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension

Abstract

Abstract One of the great diagnostic challenges for children with pulmonary arterial hypertension is the need for general anesthesia (GA) to enable successful right heart catheterization. Here, for the first time, we describe how echocardiographic estimates of right ventricular function and pulmonary pressures change in pediatric patients during GA.

Keywords

• anesthesia
• eccentricity index
• hemodynamics
• pulmonary arterial hypertension
• right ventricular function