Diagnostic Study Of Echocardiography With Iloprost Solution For Inhalation(ventavis) Test In Acute Pulmonary Embolism

Objective:To observe the change of pulmonary artery systolic pressure in patients withpulmonary embolism (PE) before and after using iloprost solution for inhalation(ventavis)vein by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and to evaluate its diagnostic value inpatients with acute pulmonary embolism (APE).Methods:thirty-six consecutive patients suspected of APE, with pulmonary hypertension andtricuspid regurgitation,were recruited by TTE from the patients in this hospital betweenMay2010and February2012. Patients were divided into APE group and non-PE, based onthe confirmatory diagnosis of PE by spiral computed tomographic pulmonaryarteriography and/or lung scan. The changes of pulmonary artery systolic pressure wereobserved in all subjects at the time of pre-test, min0, min5, min10and min30after usingiloprost solution for inhalation(ventavis) in vein. Positive criterion was defined as theappearance of the descend of pulmonary artery systolic pressure being5mmHg less thanpre-test at one of the time of min0, min5, min10and min30after using iloprost solution forinhalation(ventavis) in vein. Sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis with TTE iloprostsolution for inhalation(ventavis) test were evaluated by receiver operating characteristiccure in patients with acute pulmonary embolism. The quantitative data were showed asmean±SD after Levene test. Independent t test was used to test the difference between thetwo groups. Analysis of one-way for repeatedly measured data was performed for theintra-group data on different time. A P value less than0.05was considered as statisticallysignificant. An obvious significance was revealed for a P value less than0.01. All of thetwo tailed analysis was done by SPSS12.0. Results:twenty-six patients with APE and ten with non-APE were drawn from thirty-sixpatients suspected of APE, based on the confirmatory diagnosis of APE by spiral computedtomographic pulmonary arteriography and/or lung scan. Sensitivity of the iloprost solutionfor inhalation(ventavis) test to diagnosis APE at the time min0, min5, min10and min30was69.23%,61.54%,84.62%and84.62%, respectively. And specificity for diagnosisAPE with iloprost solution for inhalation(ventavis) test was20.00%,60.00%,60.00%and80.00%, respectively.Conclusion:Diagnostic test of echocardiography with iloprost solution for inhalation(ventavis) inAPE can be a safe, convenient and sensitive methods of screen in suspicious of APE. It canbe a feasibility test to diagnose APE by TTE with iloprost solution for inhalation(ventavis).