Utility of right ventricular strain imaging in predicting pulmonary vascular resistance in patients with pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) has important prognostic implications in the assessment of patients with pulmonary hypertension. Using echocardiography to measure PVR would have the advantage of being able to follow patients serially and to assess their response to treatment noninvasively. The authors sought to assess whether right ventricular strain rate imaging (SRI) can predict PVR in patients with pulmonary hypertension. The study population consisted of 46 patients referred for right heart catheterization. The inclusion criteria was mean pulmonary artery pressure ≥25 mm Hg in right heart catheterization in patients with pulmonary hypertension including chronic systolic heart failure. Echocardiography was performed to obtain SRI just before right heart catheterization. Mean values of peak systolic longitudinal strain and strain rate obtained from basal and mid-right ventricular free wall were calculated. The control group consisted of 35 healthy adults matched for age and sex. The most significant correlations were between basal right ventricular strain and strain rate (SR) and mean pulmonary arterial pressure (r=0.63, P=.000), transpulmonary gradient (r=0.6, P=.001), and PVR (r=0.5, P=.003). SR was independently correlated with PVR (PVR=26.9-16.9×basal right ventricular SR; r=0.53, P=.003). The present study shows that basal right ventricular free wall strain and SR could be independently correlated with PVR in patients with pulmonary hypertension.