EPLAR

ePLAR - the echocardiographic Pulmonary to Left Atrial Ratio, is a proposed numeric parameter used to assess the pulmonary circulation and its relationship with left atrial pressure. It is calculated from the standard transthoracic Doppler echocardiogram parameter tricuspid regurgitation peak continuous wave Doppler velocity (TRVmax) measure in meters/second divided by the ratio of transmitral peak pulse-wave Doppler E-wave velocity : Doppler Tissue Velocity peak E wave of the medial mitral annulus (E/e’).
ePLAR (m/s) = TRVmax / mitral E/e’.
Initial validation studies comparing ePLAR to cardiac catheterization of the right heart are underway, testing predictive values. Specifically, ePLAR sensitivity and specificity for differentiation pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension (which may respond to modern specific pulmonary vasodilator drugs) from post-capillary physiology pulmonary hypertension secondary to left heart disease will be tested.
The ePLAR was conceptualized on 21.9.2014 by Dr Gregory M Scalia (Cardiologist, the University of Queensland, The Prince Charles Hospital) during a lecture regarding the invasive assessment of pulmonary hypertension patients. This author had developed several Doppler echocardiography numeric parameters over the last two decades to assess cardiac diastolic function and Cardiac shunt defects with the .

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