scholarly journals Unenhanced computed tomography as a diagnostic tool in suspected pulmonary hypertension: a retrospective cross-sectional pilot study

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 249
Author(s):  
Ze Ming Goh ◽  
Christopher S. Johns ◽  
Tarik Julius ◽  
Samual Barnes ◽  
Krit Dwivedi ◽  
...  

Background: Computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) has been proposed to be diagnostic for pulmonary hypertension (PH) in multiple studies. However, the utility of the unenhanced CT measurements diagnosing PH has not been fully assessed.  This study aimed to assess the diagnostic utility and reproducibility of cardiac and great vessel parameters on unenhanced computed tomography (CT) in suspected pulmonary hypertension (PH). Methods: In total, 42 patients with suspected PH who underwent unenhanced CT thorax and right heart catheterization (RHC) were included in the study. Three observers (a consultant radiologist, a specialist registrar in radiology, and a medical student) measured the parameters by using unenhanced CT. Diagnostic accuracy of the parameters was assessed by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Inter-observer variability between the consultant radiologist (primary observer) and the two secondary observers was determined by intra-class correlation analysis (ICC). Results: Overall, 35 patients were diagnosed with PH by RHC while 7 patients were not. Main pulmonary arterial (MPA) diameter was the strongest (AUC 0.79 to 0.87) and the most reproducible great vessel parameter. ICC comparing the MPA diameter measurement of the consultant radiologist to the specialist registrar’s and the medical student’s were 0.96 and 0.92, respectively. Right atrial area was the cardiac measurement with highest accuracy and reproducibility (AUC 0.76 to 0.79; ICC 0.980, 0.950) followed by tricuspid annulus diameter (AUC 0.76 to 0.79; ICC 0.790, 0.800). Conclusions: MPA diameter and right atrial areas showed high reproducibility. Diagnostic accuracies of these were within the range of acceptable to excellent, and might have clinical value. Tricuspid annular diameter was less reliable and less diagnostic and was therefore not a recommended diagnostic measurement.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camila Farnese Rezende ◽  
Eliane Viana Mancuzo ◽  
Maria Carmo P Nunes ◽  
Ricardo de Amorim Corrêa

Abstract Purpose: Studies in the context of research have shown a significant disagreement between the echocardiographic measurement of the systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) and right atrial pressure (RAP) and that obtained by right heart catheterization (RHC). We compare measurements of sPAP and RAP, verified by transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) with those detected by RHC in patients being investigated for pulmonary hypertension (PH). Methods: Cross-sectional study was performed in a context of usual clinical practice in the public referral center for PH, including patients with high or intermediate echocardiographic probability of pulmonary arterial hypertension and chronic thromboembolic PH. Bland-Altman test was used to assess the agreement amongthe values and ROC curve to identify sPAP and tricuspid regurgitation velocity (TRV) values ​​with better accuracy. Clinically acceptable differences of 10 mmHg for sPAP and 5 mmHg for RAP were considered.Results: Ninety-five patients were included. The Bland-Altman analysis showed a bias of 8.03 mmHg for sPAP and -3.30 mmHg for RAP. Area under the curve for sPAP and TRV measured by TTE were 0.936(95% CI: 0.836-1.0) and 0.919(95% CI: 0.837-1.0), respectively. According to the pre-defined pressure differences, only 33.4% of the echocardiographic estimate of sPAP and 55.1% of RAP were accurate, as compared to the measurements obtained by RHC. Conclusions: Real life study revealed that echocardiographic evaluation demonstrated a high discriminatory power for diagnosis of PH, but sPAP and RAP measurements showed significant disagreements in relation to hemodynamic measures. The technical improvement of diagnostic services may contribute to the earlier recognition of this condition by TTE.


Circulation ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 130 (suppl_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuko Fukuda ◽  
Hidekazu Tanaka ◽  
Yoshiki Motoji ◽  
Keiko Ryo ◽  
Hiroki Matsuzoe ◽  
...  

Background: The development of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) has been associated with adverse outcomes. Right atrial (RA) function could be a prognostic factors as well as RV function, but non-invasive evaluation of RA function is limited. Our objective was thus to test the hypothesis that RA function was associated with hemodynamic parameters of RV performance in PH patients. Methods: Eighty PH patients with mean pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) of 40±11mmHg (all≥25mmHg) were recruited in this study. RA function was assessed by using two-dimensional speckle-tracking strain from RV-focused apical 4-chamber view. RA strain was calculated with the reference point set at the P wave, which enabled the recognition of peak negative (RAneg), positive strain (RAposi), and the sum of those values (RAtotal), corresponding to RA contractile, conduit, and reservoir function, respectively. All patients underwent right-heart catheterization for measurement of mean PAP and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). Results: RAneg (r=0.24 and p=0.03), RAposi (r=0.31 and p=0.01) and RAtotal (r=0.35 and p=0.001) were significantly correlated with mean PAP. In addition, RAposi (r=0.41 and p<0.001) and RAtotal (r=0.44 and p<0.001) were also correlated with PVR. Conclusions: Non-invasively assessed RA strains were associated with mean PAP and PVR. RA strain may be of a valuable additive factor for the management of PH patients, and thus have potential clinical applications.


2015 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. e1.47-e1
Author(s):  
Matthias Gorenflo ◽  
David Pittrow ◽  
Dörte Huscher ◽  
Victoria Ziesenitz ◽  
Joseph Pattathu ◽  
...  

BackgroundPulmonary hypertension (PH/PAH) can have many possible causes in childhood. The aim of the COMPERA registry is the characterization of patients of all ages with PH/PAH and their treatment patterns.MethodsSince June 2013, paediatric patients can be included in the COMPERA registry (ClinTrials.gov: NCT01347216) which has originally been established for adult patients with pulmonary hypertension in 2007.ResultsUntil 2015, 78 patients <18 years (47 Pat <6 years) with pulmonary hypertension were enrolled, of whom 65.4% had PAH due to congenital heart disease (PAH-CHD), 25.6% had idiopathic PAH (iPAH), 3 had persistent PH of the newborn, 2 had PH associated with interstitial lung disease, and two had other PH. The patients were 6.1±6.0 years old, 52.6% girls; NYHA functional class I/II in 55.0%, and III in 42.3%. Mean disease duration after diagnosis was 37.7±55.8 months. Right heart catheterization data were available for 82.1% of the patients. Mean pulmonary artery pressure was 42.8±19.4 mmHg, right atrial pressure was 8.0±8.8 mmHg, cardiac index was 3.6±1.2 l/min/m2. Monotherapy was received by 65.4% of the patients whereas 33.4% of the patients had combination therapy. Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (PDE5I) were administered to 76.9% of the patients, 35.9% of the patients received endothelin receptor antagonists and 3.8% received prostacyclins. About 24% of patients received anticoagulation therapy.ConclusionThe most common form of PH in this study cohort is PAH-CHD, followed by iPAH. Treatment options for children primarily comprise PDE5I. Only a small number of paediatric patients receive anticoagulation therapy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Gotti ◽  
M Palazzini ◽  
F Saia ◽  
F Dardi ◽  
A Rinaldi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) has recently been developed as an alternative and less-invasive treatment strategy for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) but therapeutic efficacy and technical safety of the technique have to be established. Purpose To examine the effects of BPA on patients with inoperable disease or residual pulmonary hypertension (PH) after pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA). Methods From June 2015 to January 2019 we enrolled symptomatic (WHO-FC ≥II) inoperable CTEPH patients and patients with residual PH after PEA. At baseline and after 3 months after last BPA session all patients underwent clinical evaluation, six-minute walking distance (6MWD) and right heart catheterization. For comparisons Friedman test (with Bonferroni post-hoc pairwise analysis) was used. Results Forty-one patients [male 49%, median age 65 (52–75) years, 34 inoperable and 7 with residual PH after PEA] were treated for a total of 111 sessions (median number of sessions for each patient: 2); during each session we treated 2 (2.0–2.5) vessels. Results are shown in the Table. Forty patients were treated with medical therapy before BPA (16 with combination therapy). Four pulmonary artery dissection and 2 haemoptysis with clinical impairment were documented during the procedures; 27 patients had lung injury (radiographic opacity with/without hemoptysis and/or hypoxemia), none had renal dysfunction, 6 patients had access site complications. Five patients died during follow-up (none within 30 days from the procedure) because of sepsis (1), heart failure (1), cancer (1), arrhythmic storm (1) and sudden death in a patients with severe coronary atherosclerosis (1). Table 1 Median (interquartile range) Baseline Baseline ÷ Pre-BPA Pre-BPA Pre-BPA ÷ Post-BPA Post-BPA Global (n=41) 8 (3–49) months (n=41) 10 (6–18) months (n=32) p-value WHO-FC III-IV (%) 88 N.S. 83 <0.05 42 <0.001 6MWD (m) 430 (346–560) N.S. 425 (357–500) <0.05 450 (375–605) <0.001 RAP (mmHg) 6 (5–8) N.S. 6 (5–8) N.S. 6 (4–8) 0.023 mPAP (mmHg) 46 (40–52) <0.05 43 (33–50) <0.05 36 (28–41) <0.001 CI (l/min/m2) 2.6 (2.2–3.0) N.S. 2.7 (2.2–3.0) <0.05 3.1 (2.6–3.5) 0.004 PVR (WU) 7.5 (5.6–11.5) <0.05 6.5 (4.7–10.3) <0.05 4.1 (3.3–5.9) <0.001 PA O2 Sat (%) 69 (63–71) N.S. 69 (63–72) N.S. 69 (63–73) 0.002 CI, Cardiac Index; mPAP, mean Pulmonary Arterial Pressure; PVR, Pulmonary Vascular Resistance; PA O2 Sat, Pulmonary Artery Oxygen Saturation; RAP, Right Atrial Pressure; 6MWD, 6 Minute Walking Distance; WHO-FC, World Health Organization Functional Class. Conclusions BPA is a safe and effective treatment able to improve symptoms and hemodynamic profile in inoperable CTEPH patients and in patients with residual PH after PEA. Acknowledgement/Funding None


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Hexiang Wang ◽  
Zhenyou Liu ◽  
Yong Zhang ◽  
Feng Hou ◽  
Weiwei Fu ◽  
...  

Purpose. This study was performed to determine whether diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) plus unenhanced computed tomography (CT) of the brain increases the diagnostic value of routine magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings of early-stage glioblastoma. Methods. Postcontrast MR images of eight unenhanced lesions that had been pathologically diagnosed as glioblastoma were retrospectively examined. The location, margin, signal intensity, and attenuation on MR imaging and CT were assessed. Results. On MR imaging, all lesions were ill-defined, small, and isointense to hypointense on T1-weighted images and hyperintense on T2-weighted images. Four patients had perilesional edema. In seven patients, DWI showed an inhomogeneous hyperintense lesion (n = 1) or isointense lesion with a hyperintense region (n = 6). On unenhanced CT, all masses presented as a hypoattenuated lesion with a hyperattenuated region (n = 7) or isoattenuated region (n = 1). The hyperattenuated region (n = 6) or isoattenuated region (n = 1) on CT appeared on DWI as an inhomogeneous hyperintense lesion (n = 1), isointense lesion with a hyperintense region (n = 3), or ring-like peritumoral hyperintensity (n = 3). Conclusions. MR imaging was the most sensitive imaging method for depicting early-stage glioblastoma. The CT finding of a hyperattenuated or isoattenuated region combined with the DWI finding of the same region containing an inhomogeneous hyperintense lesion or isointense lesion with a hyperintense region may be a specific diagnostic sign for early-stage glioblastoma. DWI plus unenhanced CT added diagnostic value to the routine MR imaging findings of early-stage glioblastoma.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Meng ◽  
Wu Song ◽  
Sheng Liu ◽  
David Hsi ◽  
Lin-Yuan Wan ◽  
...  

Background: There have been no systemic studies about right heart filling pressure and right ventricular (RV) distensibility in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Therefore, we aimed to explore combinations of echocardiographic indices to assess the stages of RV diastolic dysfunction.Methods and Results: We recruited 32 healthy volunteers and 71 patients with CTEPH. All participants underwent echocardiography, cardiac catheterization (in patients with CTEPH), and a 6-min walk test (6MWT). The right atrial (RA) end-systolic area was adjusted for body surface area (BSA) (indexed RA area). RV global longitudinal diastolic strain rates (SRs) and RV ejection fraction (EF) were measured by speckle tracking and three-dimensional echocardiography (3D echo), respectively. All 71 patients with CTEPH underwent pulmonary endarterectomy. Of the 71 patients, 52 (73%) had decreased RV systolic function; 12 (16.9%), 26 (36.6%), and 33 (46.5%) patients had normal RV diastolic pattern, abnormal relaxation (stage 1), and pseudo-normal patterns (stage 2), respectively. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the optimal cut-off values of early diastolic SR &lt;0.8 s−1 and indexed RA area &gt; 8.8 cm2/BSA had the best accuracy in identifying patients with RV diastolic dysfunction, with 87% sensitivity and 82% specificity. During a mean follow-up of 25.2 months after pulmonary endarterectomy, the preoperative indexed RA area was shown as an independent risk factor of the decreased 6MWT distance.Conclusions: Measuring early diastolic SR and indexed RA area would be useful in stratifying RV diastolic function.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashwin Venkateshvaran ◽  
Natavan Seidova ◽  
Hande Oktay Tureli ◽  
Barbro Kjellström ◽  
Lars H Lund ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND. Accurate assessment of pulmonary artery (PA) pressures is integral to diagnosis, follow-up and therapy selection in pulmonary hypertension (PH). Despite wide utilization, the accuracy of echocardiography to estimate PA pressures has been debated. We aimed to evaluate echocardiographic accuracy to estimate right heart catheterization (RHC) based PA pressures in a large, dual-centre hemodynamic database. METHODS. Consecutive PH referrals that underwent comprehensive echocardiography within 3 hours of clinically indicated right heart catheterization were enrolled. Subjects with absent or severe, free-flowing tricuspid regurgitation (TR) were excluded. Accuracy was defined as mean bias between echocardiographic and invasive measurements on Bland-Altman analysis for the cohort and estimate difference within ±10mmHg of invasive measurements for individual diagnosis. RESULTS. In 419 subjects, echocardiographic PA systolic and mean pressures demonstrated minimal bias with invasive measurements (+2.4 and +1.9mmHg respectively) but displayed wide limits of agreement (-20 to +25 and -14 to +18mmHg respectively) and frequently misclassified subjects. Recommendation-based right atrial pressure (RAP) demonstrated poor precision and was falsely elevated in 32% of individual cases. Applying a fixed, median RAP to echocardiographic estimates resulted in relatively lower bias between modalities when assessing PA systolic (+1.4mmHg; 95% limits of agreement +25 to –22mmHg) and PA mean pressures (+1.4mmHg; 95% limits of agreement +19 to -16mmHg).CONCLUSIONS. Echocardiography accurately represents invasive PA pressures for population studies but may be misleading for individual diagnosis owing to modest precision and frequent misclassification. Recommendation-based estimates of RAPmean may not necessarily contribute to greater accuracy of PA pressure estimates.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (22) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona Lichtblau ◽  
Patrick R. Bader ◽  
Stéphanie Saxer ◽  
Charlotte Berlier ◽  
Esther I. Schwarz ◽  
...  

Background We investigated changes in right atrial pressure (RAP) during exercise and their prognostic significance in patients assessed for pulmonary hypertension (PH). Methods and Results Consecutive right heart catheterization data, including RAP recorded during supine, stepwise cycle exercise in 270 patients evaluated for PH, were analyzed retrospectively and compared among groups of patients with PH (mean pulmonary artery pressure [mPAP] ≥25 mm Hg), exercise‐induced PH (exPH; resting mPAP <25 mm Hg, exercise mPAP >30 mm Hg, and mPAP/cardiac output >3 Wood Units (WU)), and without PH (noPH). We investigated RAP changes during exercise and survival over a median (quartiles) observation period of 3.7 (2.8–5.6) years. In 152 patients with PH, 58 with exPH, and 60 with noPH, median (quartiles) resting RAP was 8 (6–11), 6 (4–8), and 6 (4–8) mm Hg ( P <0.005 for noPH and exPH versus PH). Corresponding peak changes (95% CI) in RAP during exercise were 5 (4–6), 3 (2–4), and −1 (−2 to 0) mm Hg (noPH versus PH P <0.001, noPH versus exPH P =0.027). RAP increase during exercise correlated with mPAP/cardiac output increase ( r =0.528, P <0.001). The risk of death or lung transplantation was higher in patients with exercise‐induced RAP increase (hazard ratio, 4.24; 95% CI, 1.69–10.64; P =0.002) compared with patients with unaltered or decreasing RAP during exercise. Conclusions In patients evaluated for PH, RAP during exercise should not be assumed as constant. RAP increase during exercise, as observed in exPH and PH, reflects hemodynamic impairment and poor prognosis. Therefore, our data suggest that changes in RAP during exercise right heart catheterization are clinically important indexes of the cardiovascular function.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Takaya Sasaki ◽  
Nobuo Tsuboi ◽  
Yusuke Okabayashi ◽  
Kotaro Haruhara ◽  
Go Kanzaki ◽  
...  

Abstract Methods for estimating nephron number in a clinical setting may be useful for predicting renal outcomes. This study aimed to establish such a method using unenhanced computed tomography (CT) and biopsy-based stereology. Patients or living kidney donors simultaneously subjected to enhanced and unenhanced CT examinations were randomly assigned to development and validation groups. The enhanced CT-measured arterial phase and the venous phase images of kidneys were regarded as the true values for cortical volume and parenchymal volume, respectively. Linear multiple regression analysis was used to create models for estimating cortical volume using explanatory variables including unenhanced CT-measured parenchymal volume. Nephron number was determined as the product of cortical volume and the glomerular density in biopsies of donors. Five equations for estimating cortical volume were created and verified. In donors, estimated nephron number by unenhanced CT was consistent with that by enhanced CT, with minimal errors in all models (636–655 ± 210–219 vs. 648 ± 224 × 103/kidney). Clinical characteristics combined with parenchymal volume did not improve the equation over parenchymal volume alone. These results support the feasibility of estimating nephron number by a combination of unenhanced CT and biopsy-based stereology, with a possible application for renal disease patients who are often not suitable for contrast media.


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