Echocardiographic Assessment of Pulmonary Transit Time Following Exercise

The ability to measure the amount of blood in the lungs using heart-ultrasound (echocardiography) can be useful to estimate how much fluid is in a patient's circulation, which can influence diagnosis and treatment of certain types of heart failure. In some patients, the amount of fluid is normal at rest, but can increase with activity and thus a diagnosis of heart failure can only be made after exercising. Currently, the amount of fluid is measured invasively. We have shown that echocardiography can measure the amount of fluid in the lung circulation at rest without the need for an invasive procedure. We now seek to find out if we can make a similar measurement after exercise. If successful, the need for catheter procedures may be reduced in certain types of heart failure.