Comparación del grado de opacificación auricular derecha con ecocardiografía intracardiaca tras inyecciones femoral y antecubital de contraste salino

It is thought that femoral injection of agitated saline contrast is better for detecting patent foramen ovale than antecubital injection mainly because of the nature of intraatrial flow where the venae cavae enter the heart. Our aim was to investigate the effect of the contrast injection site on the degree of right atrial opacification seen on intracardiac echocardiography. The degree of right atrial opacification after each femoral or antecubital injection of saline contrast was scored from 0-4 in 21 patients. It was shown that the degree of right atrial opacification was greater after femoral than antecubital injection (3.76 vs. 1.62; P<.001). Future studies comparing the two routes of saline contrast injection should control for the degree of right atrial opacification.