Ultrasonic evaluation of congestive liver after tricuspid annuloplasty

To assess the effect of tricuspid annuloplasty (TAP), the authors measured the size of the liver by using echography in the patients undergoing tricus pid annuloplasty. From April 1989 to August 1996, 18 patients underwent TAP . The authors measured preoperatively and postoperatively the hepatic index (HI) by echography, defined as follows: HI=L x D/BSA (L: the top-to-bottom length of the left hepatic lobe; D: the front-to-back length of the left h epatic lobe; BSA: body surface area). They also calculated the reducing rat e (RR) of HI. The mean HI decreased after TAP; preoperative HI: 39.7 +/- 11 .8 vs postoperative HI: 33.8 +/- 10.5 (p=0.0069). The RR of the patients wi th postoperatively residual tricuspid regurgitation (TR) over 2 degrees (n= 4) was significantly lower than that of the other patients (n=14): -11.0 +/ - 6.0% vs 20.2 +/- 3.2% (p=0.0003). They conclude that the use of echograph y to measure the HI is a good method of assessing congestion after TAP.