Objective: To observe the pulmonary artery motion curve with anatomical M-mode echocardiography and investigate its influential factors.
Methods: The pulmonary artery motion curve was detected and pulsating amplitude of pulmonary artery wall (PAWPA) was measured in 160 volunteers with normal pulmonary artery pressure by anatomical M-mode echocardiography. Inter- and intra-observer consistency were assessed with Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) in 20 randomly selected cases. Routine echo examination was performed to measure the inner diameter of right atrium which was used to estimate the intra-atrium pressure. Stepwise multiple regression was used to analyze the following potential influential factors of PAWPA: age, gender, heart rate, blood pressure, atherosclerosis, right atrial diameter, and pulmonary insufficiency.
Results: There was a good consistency between two independent observers’ measurements and between two occasions in the same observer’s measurements for PAWPA with ICC values of 0.91 (95% confidence interval was 0.37-0.99) and 0.95 (95% CI, 0.60-0.99), respectively. PAWPA was negatively correlated with age (β=-0.47, p<0.001) and heart rate (β=-0.29, p<0.005), but not correlated with gender, blood pressure, atherosclerosis, right atrial diameter, and pulmonary insufficiency.
Conclusions: Anatomical M-mode echocardiography can be used for measuring PAWPA with good consistency and reproducibility. In normal pulmonary artery pressure cases, the PAWPA was influenced by age and heart rate.