Interdependence of right ventricular systolic function and left ventricular filling and its association with outcome for patients with pulmonary hypertension

Int J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2015 Apr;31(4):691-8. doi: 10.1007/s10554-015-0598-x. Epub 2015 Jan 23.

Abstract

Although impaired right ventricular (RV) performance has been associated with adverse outcomes for pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients, the relationship between bi-ventricular interdependence and outcomes is not yet fully understood. We studied 96 PH patients. RV systolic function was assessed by means of RV free-wall longitudinal speckle-tracking strain (RV-free), and left ventricular (LV) filling as early diastolic transmitral flow velocity (TMF-E). RV-free ≤19 % and TMF-E <60 cm/s were adopted as pre-defined cut-offs for RV systolic dysfunction and LV under-filling, respectively, associated with worse outcomes. Long-term outcome was tracked over 2.2 years. RV-free correlated significantly with TMF-E (r = 0.57, p < 0.001).TMF-E and RV-free were significantly lower in patients with than in those without cardiac events. RV systolic dysfunction and LV under-filling was observed in 35 patients. These features were associated with worse long-term survival compared to other sub-groups (log-rank p = 0.012). A sequential Cox model based on clinical variables including world health organization functional class IV and brain natriuretic peptide >150 pg/dl (χ(2) = 1.2) was improved by the addition of RV-free (χ(2) = 5.5, p = 0.04) as well as of TMF-E (χ(2) = 11.5, p = 0.01). In conclusions, RV systolic function was shown to correlate significantly with LV filling in PH patients. In addition, not only assessment of RV systolic function, but also of a combined bi-ventricular parameter comprising RV systolic function and LV filling may well have clinical implications for more successful management of PH patients.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Chi-Square Distribution
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Echocardiography, Doppler, Pulsed
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hypertension, Pulmonary / diagnostic imaging
  • Hypertension, Pulmonary / mortality
  • Hypertension, Pulmonary / physiopathology*
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Prognosis
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Systole*
  • Time Factors
  • Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / diagnostic imaging
  • Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / mortality
  • Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / physiopathology*
  • Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / diagnostic imaging
  • Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / mortality
  • Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / physiopathology*
  • Ventricular Function, Left*
  • Ventricular Function, Right*