Echocardiographic Assessment of Intrapulmonary Vasodilatation: Agitated Saline Versus Polygeline

Medical University of Vienna

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Cirrhosis; Liver

Treatments: Procedure: echocardiography for intrapulmonary vasodilatation

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00343122

EK 4462005

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of the study is to evaluate agitated saline versus polygeline for detection of intrapulmonary vasodilatation in patients with cirrhosis.

Full description

Intrapulmonary vasodilatation is a frequent finding in patients with cirrhosis. Its diagnosis is established via contrast enhanced echocardiography. One used method is the contrast agent agitated saline and another frequently used method is the contrast agent polygeline. The purpose of this study is to compare these two echocardiographic contrast agents with respect to their ability to detect intrapulmonary vasodilatation.

Enrollment: 100 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• age > 18 years
• presence of liver cirrhosis
• evaluation for liver transplantation or transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt

Exclusion criteria

• inadequate echocardiographic image quality
• allergies to echocardiographic contrast agents
• pulmonary valve stenosis
• pulmonary embolism
• relevant tricuspid regurgitation
• cardiomyopathy