Spectral analysis of the heart sounds in children with and without pulmonary artery hypertension

Abstract Background Pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) is difficult to recognize clinically. Digital stethoscopes offer an opportunity to re-evaluate the diagnosis of PAH. We hypothesized that spectral analysis of heart sound frequencies using recordings from a digital stethoscope would differ between children with and without PAH. Methods We recorded heart sounds using a digital stethoscope from 27 subjects (12 males) with a median age of 7years (3months to 19years) undergoing simultaneous cardiac catheterization. 13 subjects had a mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAp) Results The relative power of the frequencies 21–22Hz of the heart sounds recorded at the 2nd LICS was decreased significantly in subjects mPAp≥25mmHg versus Conclusions Heart sound signals of patients with PAH contain significantly less relative power in the band 21–22Hz compared to subjects with normal PAp. Information contained in the frequency domain may be useful in diagnosing PAH and aid the development of auscultation based techniques for diagnosing PAH. In the future, utilizing the diagnostic information contained in heart sounds recordings may require analysis of both the time and frequency domains.