Pulmonary hypertension after ventriculoatrial shunt implantation.

The authors detected pulmonary hypertension by using Doppler echocardiography in a significant proportion of patients with VA shunts. It is therefore recommended that practitioners perform regular echocardiography and pulmonary function tests, including single-breath DLCO in these patients to screen for pulmonary hypertension to prevent hazardous late cardiopulmonary complications.