Tricuspid flow and regurgitation in congenital heart disease and pulmonary hypertension: comparison of 4D flow cardiovascular magnetic resonance and echocardiography.

Tricuspid valve (TV) regurgitation (TR) is a common complication of pulmonary hypertension and right-sided congenital heart disease, associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Estimation of TR severity by echocardiography and conventional cardiovasvular magnetic resonance (CMR) is not well validated and has high variability. 4D velocity-encoded (4D-flow) CMR was used to measure tricuspid flow in patients with complex right ventricular (RV) geometry and varying degrees of TR. The aims of the present study were: 1) to assess accuracy of 4D-flow CMR across the TV by comparing 4D-flow CMR derived TV effective flow to 2D-flow derived effective flow across the pulmonary valve (PV); 2) to assess TV 4D-flow CMR reproducibility, and 3) to compare TR grade by 4D-flow CMR to TR grade by echocardiography.