Echocardiography Exam 2 Practice Test 2026 - Free Practice Questions and Study Guide

The main idea is that pressure difference from the tricuspid regurgitation jet is derived from the simplified Bernoulli equation, which uses the square of the velocity. Specifically, the pressure gradient between the right ventricle and right atrium is ΔP = 4 v^2, where v is the Doppler velocity in meters per second. The right ventricular systolic pressure is then estimated as RVSP ≈ ΔP + the right atrial pressure. Because the velocity term is squared, changes in velocity affect pressure in a quadratic, not linear, manner. This is why the velocity measurement has a strong impact on the RVSP estimation.