Assessing the kinetics of microbubble appearance in cirrhotic patients using transthoracic saline contrast-enhanced echocardiography.

Background: The number of cardiac cycles that need to be reviewed by echocardiography before a significant intrapulmonary shunt can be excluded remains unclear.

Methods: We retrospectively identified patients with cirrhosis who underwent technetium-99 m-labeled macroaggregated albumin scanning. The kinetics of bubble appearance after the injection of agitated saline during transthoracic echocardiograms were assessed in these patients.

Results: For the 64 eligible patients, the mean ± SD age was 56 ± 9 years. The median (IQR) shunt fraction by radionuclide scanning was 7.7% (2.8%-19.9%). Microbubbles were seen in the left atrium (LA) and left ventricle (LV) at a median (IQR) of 4 (2-5) and 4 (2-5) beats, respectively. The number of heart cycles before microbubbles appeared in the LA or LV was inversely associated with the nuclear scanning shunt fraction (R = -0.42, P = .001, R = -0.46, P < .001, respectively). If no microbubbles were detected by heart cycle 7, the shunt fraction was uniformly less than 3%. Patients with arterial oxygen <60 mm Hg, compared to ≥60 mm Hg, had earlier appearance of microbubbles in the left heart chambers (2.6 ± 1.9 vs 4.0 ± 2.3 beats, P = .046).

Conclusions: In patients with advanced cirrhosis suspected of having hepatopulmonary syndrome, a greater shunt fraction during nuclear scanning was associated with more pronounced hypoxemia and a prompt and more intense appearance of microbubbles in the left-sided heart chambers. Patients with a shunt fraction above 3% have microbubbles in the LA or LV at some point during the first seven heart cycles.