Correlation between chest radiography and the echocardiogram to evaluate cardiomegaly in patients with systemic arterial hypertension

• Published in: Archivos de cardiología de México 2006-04, Vol.76 (2), p.179-184
• Main Authors: Díaz Arrieta, Gustavo, Mendoza Hernández, Maria Elsa, Hernández Cabrera, Jorge, Robles Parra, Héctor Manuel, Espinosa Vázquez, Raúl Arturo, Pacheco Aranda, Erika, Rivas Duro, Miguel, Domínguez Herrera, Javier Guillermo, Sánchez Velázquez, Luis David, Ramírez Torres, Marco Antonio, Sánchez Maravillas, Juana, Ortega Alvarado, Alejandra Silvia
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Subjects: Adult; Cardiomegaly - diagnostic imaging; Cardiomegaly - etiology; Female; Humans; Hypertension - complications; Male; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Radiography; Ultrasonography
• ISSN: 1405-9940

The chest radiography is used routinely by the clinician as a tool in the scan of patients with systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) to evaluate the dimensions of the heart. However the highest reported sensitivity for the evaluation of heart growth with this method is 77.3% in contrast to the transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) that reaches between 90 to 100%. The aim of this study was assess in our population of patients with SAH, the correlation between chest radiography and the TTE in regard to cardiomegaly. Seventy two patients with SAH and radiological cardiomegaly, graded by measuring the cardiothoracic ratio (CTR), were evaluated by transthoracic echocardiography. The Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficients between both methods were assessed. Significance level was set at < 0.05. Forty one (56.9%) patients were women and 31 (43.1%) were men. The age was 62.4 +/- 10 years (43-83 years). Left ventricular concentric hypertrophy (LVCH) was found in 56 (77.8%) patients. In 13 (18%) patients the left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDD) was higher than the normal value. The correlation coefficient between the diastolic ventricular septal thickness (DST) and CTR was 0.285 (p < 0.05) and between the LVEDD and radiological cardiomegaly was 0.203 (p = NS). In patients with SAH, the radiological evidence of cardiomegaly keeps a correlation with ventricular hypertrophy, but not with ventricular dilation.