Ge vivid s70

Echocardiography data was retrospectively analyzed in a sub-sample (n = 50) of patients undergoing CTPA imaging by a senior clinical physiologist (G.A.) to extract the maximal tricuspid regurgitation velocity, estimated systolic pulmonary artery pressure and right ventricular outflow tract acceleration time, as previously described, with normative values from the literature^{30 (link),31 (link)}. In four patients, only the central venous pressure could be estimated but it is not reported since many patients were intubated. In two patients, none of the parameters were obtainable due to insufficient technical image quality. All echocardiography was performed on GE Vivid S70 (GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, USA).

Echocardiography was carried out with G.E. Vivid S70 (GE Healthcare, United States) and analyzed and stored using EchoPac v202.5 (GE Healthcare, United States). Exams were performed with a dedicated protocol (Supplementary Appendix 1). Off-line measurements were carried out by two echocardiographers with the British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) level II transthoracic echo (TTE) accreditation. Studies and measurements were cross-referenced by a consultant cardiologist with > 10 years of practice as an imaging expert, based at the Department of Echocardiography for a high-volume cardiothoracic surgical, transplant and tertiary referral center with the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) accreditation.
The assessment of the left and right atrial and ventricular geometry, RV and LV systolic, and data on calculation of systolic pulmonary artery pressures were obtained using a standard TTE minimum dataset approach advocated by the BSE (29 (link)).

A Philips XD20 angiographic system and 3DRA workstation (Philips Healthcare, Best, Netherlands) was used to place the catheters. For endovascular access, we punctured the vessels using a micropuncture set (Merit Medical AB, Stockholm, Sweden) guided by ultrasonography with Siemens Acuson Sequoia 512 (Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany). Access was established with an introducer in the femoral artery and the femoral vein. We used a 7 F introducer for the guide and a 8 French introducer for the PA catheter (Terumo, Tokyo, Japan). We placed the 7.5 F PA catheter (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, USA) by fluoroscopy guidance and the location was confirmed by invasive pressure measurement. A distal access guide (Envoy 6 F, Cordis, Santa Clara, USA) was then placed in the proximal part of the descending aorta for continuous monitoring of aortic pressure and a 7 F pigtail catheter was placed in the right atrium of swine #2 and #3 in the supraphysiological ANGII infusion group for pulmonary angiography. Ultrasonography was performed every second hour during the experiment to exclude deep venous thrombosis in the hind legs using Siemens Acuson Sequoia 512 (Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany). Echocardiography was performed on a GE Vivid S70 (GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, USA).