Echocardiography in the Potential Heart Donor

The relationship between echocardiographic left ventricular(LV) systolic function (E-function) and pulmonary artery catheter(PAC) assessment of hemodynamic function (H-function) in potential heart donors is ill defined. We investigated this and determined (a) whether optimization could improve abnormal E-function, (b) feasibility and usefulness of repeat transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), and (c) whether thyroid status and therapy affected E-function. Transthoracic E-function imaging was performed at baseline and 4 hr in potential donors (enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of tri-iodothyronine+/-methylprednisolone [MP] therapy) undergoing PAC-guided algorithmic optimization. Images were analyzed post hoc for LV wall thickness, ejection fraction, and Tei index. The study comprised 66 donors. Both LV ejection fraction (LVEF) and LV-Tei correlated with cardiac index (CI; P