Echocardiographic correlates of survival in severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

To define potential echocardiographic correlates of survival in infants with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a retrospective analysis of echocardiograms was performed. Between 1982 and 1986, 27 infants with severe BPD had at least two echocardiographic studies. Echocardiograms were divided into early (less than 30 days of age), intermediate (45 to 120 days of age), and late (more than 145 days of age) periods, and survivors were compared with patients who subsequently died of causes related to BPD. Right ventricular size did not differ between survivors and nonsurvivors in any of the periods. Nonsurvivors had significantly smaller left ventricular internal dimensions than survivors in both the middle and late periods. Noninvasive estimates of pulmonary artery pressure (the right ventricular pre-ejection period/right ventricular ejection time ratio) did not differ between survivors and nonsurvivors until the late period. These data suggest that measurements of left ventricular size may have value in predicting survival of infants with severe BPD.