EVALUATION OF RIGHT-VENTRICULAR FUNCTION FOR LONG TRANSPLANTATION - ROLE OF ELECTRON FLOW SCAN

Several invasive or not invasive technics were used to evaluate right ventricular insufficiency associated to severe chronic pulmonary insuf ficiency. But none of them were very accurate and now the use of EBT a ppears as a real improvment. We performed a prospective study with 50 patients waiting for a lung transplantation and we compared the values of right ventricular function obtained by EBT to those obtained by nu clear medicine and catheterism. Accuracy of EBT for left ventricule ev aluation has already been proved. Stroke volumes calculated by EBT in right and left ventricules are similar and this constitues a good vali dation of the method for right ventricule evaluation. Correlations wit h hemodynamic measurements are poor and nuclear medicine technics unde restimate the ejection fraction. So, EBT is recommanded for right vent ricular study before and after lung transplantation.