scholarly journals Echocardiographic assessment of pulmonary hypertension: a guideline protocol from the British Society of Echocardiography

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. G11-G24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel X Augustine ◽  
Lindsay D Coates-Bradshaw ◽  
James Willis ◽  
Allan Harkness ◽  
Liam Ring ◽  
...  

Pulmonary hypertension is defined as a mean arterial pressure of ≥25 mmHg as confirmed on right heart catheterisation. Traditionally, the pulmonary arterial systolic pressure has been estimated on echo by utilising the simplified Bernoulli equation from the peak tricuspid regurgitant velocity and adding this to an estimate of right atrial pressure. Previous studies have demonstrated a correlation between this estimate of pulmonary arterial systolic pressure and that obtained from invasive measurement across a cohort of patients. However, for an individual patient significant overestimation and underestimation can occur and the levels of agreement between the two is poor. Recent guidance has suggested that echocardiographic assessment of pulmonary hypertension should be limited to determining the probability of pulmonary hypertension being present rather than estimating the pulmonary artery pressure. In those patients in whom the presence of pulmonary hypertension requires confirmation, this should be done with right heart catheterisation when indicated. This guideline protocol from the British Society of Echocardiography aims to outline a practical approach to assessing the probability of pulmonary hypertension using echocardiography and should be used in conjunction with the previously published minimum dataset for a standard transthoracic echocardiogram.

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (138) ◽  
pp. 642-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Rosenkranz ◽  
Ioana R. Preston

Right heart catheterisation (RHC) plays a central role in identifying pulmonary hypertension (PH) disorders, and is required to definitively diagnose pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Despite widespread acceptance, there is a lack of guidance regarding the best practice for performing RHC in clinical practice. In order to ensure the correct evaluation of haemodynamic parameters directly measured or calculated from RHC, attention should be drawn to standardising procedures such as the position of the pressure transducer and catheter balloon inflation volume. Measurement of pulmonary arterial wedge pressure, in particular, is vulnerable to over- or under-wedging, which can give rise to false readings. In turn, errors in RHC measurement and data interpretation can complicate the differentiation of PAH from other PH disorders and lead to misdiagnosis. In addition to diagnosis, the role of RHC in conjunction with noninvasive tests is widening rapidly to encompass monitoring of treatment response and establishing prognosis of patients diagnosed with PAH. However, further standardisation of RHC is warranted to ensure optimal use in routine clinical practice.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Tanyeri ◽  
B Keskin ◽  
O Y Akbal ◽  
A Hakgor ◽  
A Karagoz ◽  
...  

Abstract Background and aim In this study we evaluated the impact of the updated pulmonary hypertension (PH) definitive criteria proposed in 6th World PH Symposium (WSPH) on numbers and frequencies of and pre- versus post-capillary PH as compared to those in European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 2015 PH Guidelines. Methods Study group comprised the retrospectively evaluated 1299 patients (pts) (age 53.1±18.8 years, female 807, 62.1%) who underwent right heart catheterisation (RHC) with different indications between 2006 and 2018. For ESC and WSPH PH definitions, pulmonary arterial mean pressure (PAMP) ≥25 mmHg (definition-A) and PAMP >20 mmHg (definition-B) RHC criteria were used, respectively. For pre-capillary PH definitions, pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PAWP) ≤15 mmHg and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) ≥3 Wood units criteria were included in the both definitions. Results In RHC assessments, PAMP ≥25 mmHg and >20 mmHg were noted in 891 (68.6%) and 1051 (80.9%) of overall pts, respectively. Moreover, pre-capillary PH was diagnosed in 284 (21.8%) and 298 (22.9%) with definition-A and B, respectively. Although updated WSPH definition was associated with a net 12.3% and a relative 18% increase in the overall PH diagnosis, net and relative changes in the frequency of the pre-capillary PH were only 1% and 4.9%. Increase in the overall PH with updated WSPH criterias compared to previous ESC definitions was associated with increase in the number of pre-capillary PH (n=298, 22.9%) but not in the overall frequency of post-capillary PH (688, 52.9%). Because PVR was the product of the transpulmonary gradient (PAMP minus PAWP) divided by cardiac output, this measure was found to keep specificity for distinction between pre- versus post-capillary PH even after lowering thetreshold diagnostic for PAMP from 25 to 20 mmHg. Conclusions Although updated WSPH definition was associated with net 12.3% and relative 18% increase in the overall PH diagnosis, its impact on frequencies of pre- versus post-capillary PH within overall PH population was negligible.These seem to be due to critical role of PVR ensuring specificity in pre-capillary PH diagnosis even after lowering the definitive PAMP treshold to 20 mmHg.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 1800458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Guth ◽  
Christoph B. Wiedenroth ◽  
Andreas Rieth ◽  
Manuel J. Richter ◽  
Ekkehard Gruenig ◽  
...  

Symptomatic patients with chronic thromboembolic disease (CTED) without pulmonary hypertension often show an excessive increase in mean pulmonary arterial pressure (MPAP) during exercise.We report on the impact of pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) on pulmonary haemodynamics in a prospective series of 32 consecutive CTED patients who underwent PEA. All patients had a comprehensive diagnostic work-up including right heart catheterisation at baseline and 12 months after PEA. Furthermore, in 12 patients exercise right heart catheterisation was performed before and after PEA.After PEA, MPAP was lower at rest (20±3 versus 17±3 mmHg; p=0.008) and during maximal exercise (39±8 versus 31±6 mmHg; p=0.016). The mean total pulmonary resistance (TPR) decreased from 3.6±0.8 Wood Units (WU) pre-operatively to 2.7±0.7 WU 1 year after PEA (p=0.004) and the mean slope of the MPAP/cardiac output (CO) relationship decreased from 3.6±1.0 to 2.3±0.8 WU (p=0.002). Peak oxygen uptake increased from 1.2±0.4 to 1.5±0.3 L·min−1 (p=0.014) and ventilatory equivalents of carbon dioxide decreased from 39±2 to 30±2 (p=0.002). There was a significant improvement in quality of life assessed by the Cambridge Pulmonary Hypertension Outcome Review questionnaire.In CTED patients, PEA resulted in haemodynamic and clinical improvements. The means of TPR and MPAP/CO slopes decreased to <3.0 WU.


1996 ◽  
Vol 77 (9) ◽  
pp. 767-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Abergel ◽  
Gilles Chatellier ◽  
Pierre Toussaint ◽  
Jean-Claude Dib ◽  
Joël Menard ◽  
...  

CHEST Journal ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 145 (3) ◽  
pp. 244A
Author(s):  
Vasileios Kouranos ◽  
Aggeliki Rapti ◽  
Elias Gialafos ◽  
Konstantina Aggeli ◽  
Petros Sfikakis ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 305 (9) ◽  
pp. H1373-H1381 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Guazzi ◽  
F. Bandera ◽  
G. Pelissero ◽  
S. Castelvecchio ◽  
L. Menicanti ◽  
...  

Echo-derived pulmonary arterial systolic pressure (PASP) and right ventricular (RV) tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE; from the end of diastole to end-systole) are of basic relevance in the clinical follow-up of heart failure (HF) patients, carrying two- to threefold increase in cardiac risk when increased and reduced, respectively. We hypothesized that the relationship between TAPSE (longitudinal RV fiber shortening) and PASP (force generated by the RV) provides an index of in vivo RV length-force relationship, with their ratio better disclosing prognosis. Two hundred ninety-three HF patients with reduced (HFrEF, n = 247) or with preserved left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (HFpEF, n = 46) underwent echo-Doppler studies and N-terminal pro-brain-type natriuretic peptide assessment and were tracked for adverse events. The median follow-up duration was 20.8 mo. TAPSE vs. PASP relationship showed a downward regression line shift in nonsurvivors who were more frequently presenting with higher PASP and lower TAPSE. HFrEF and HFpEF patients exhibited a similar distribution along the regression line. Given the TAPSE, PASP, and TAPSE-to-PASP ratio (TAPSE/PASP) collinearity, separate Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses were performed: one with TAPSE and PASP as individual measures, and the other combining them in ratio form. Hazard ratios for variables retained in the multivariate regression were as follows: TAPSE/PASP </≥ 0.36 mm/mmHg [hazard ratio (HR): 10.4, P < 0.001]; TAPSE </≥ 16 mm (HR: 5.1, P < 0.01); New York Heart Association functional class </≥ 3 (HR: 4.4, P < 0.001); E/e’ (HR: 4.1, P < 0.001). This study shows that the TAPSE vs. PASP relationship is shifted downward in nonsurvivors with a similar distribution in HFrEF and HFpEF, and their ratio improves prognostic resolution. The TAPSE vs. PASP relationship as a possible index of the length-force relationship may be a step forward for a more efficient RV function evaluation and is not affected by the quality of LV dysfunction.


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