Clinical Utility of Echocardiography for Early and Late Pulmonary Hypertension in Preterm Infants: Relation with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: We evaluated early and late pulmonary hypertension (PH) in preterm infants and its relation with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). METHODS: Sixty-seven preterm infants 0.38 and TAPSE 0.38 than patients with mild BPD, and a significantly lower systolic EI and a significantly higher incidence of systolic EI < 0.81 than patients without BPD. CONCLUSION: Systolic EI, RV MPI, and TAPSE were well represented symptomatic early PH, while systolic EI and RV MPI could be useful parameters for identifying late PH in preterm infants with BPD, even if they did not present PH symptoms.