Pulmonary flow as an method for determining cardiac output in mice after myocardial infarction

This recent article by Platt, et al. uses pulsed-wave Doppler measurement of pulmonary flow (PF) as an alternative method of cardiac output (CO) evaluation in a mouse model of myocardial infarction (MI).

Article Summary:

- Left Ventricular echocardiography remains to be a frequently used method for cardio output evaluation,
due to its non-invasive and cost efficient nature.
- Although CO derived from M-mode and B-mode images works well for healthy mice, its accuracy
decreases in certain diseased models, such as MI, where LV deformities occur.
- As an alternative, pulsed-wave Doppler flow at the pulmonary trunk was evaluated.
- CO measurements were taken from 3 echocardiography methods (M-mode, B-mode and PF) and
compared with gold standard flow probe measurements, in two diseased models (TAC and MI).
- All 3 methods correlated well with flow probe values in healthy mice, but only PF derived CO showed
strong correlation in mice with MI.
- PF measurements also showed strong intra- and inter-user agreement.

This study demonstrates that Doppler measurement of pulmonary flow may be a more robust method of CO evaluation than standard M- and B-mode measurements, especially when working with MI models. The utility of this method can be further evaluated in other cardiac disease models where LV deformation present.

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