BACKGROUND: In patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH), ascertaining raised vascular resistance as a cause is a clinical objective, for which various Doppler-based measurements have been proposed, but with modest accuracy. We hypothesize that pulmonary acceleration time (PAcT) and the ratio of PAcT/peak pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) reflect better the extent of the vascular resistance, compared with other available methods, and can differentiate accurately between pre- and post-capillary PH. METHODS AND RESULTS: We investigated 56 patients (mean age 61 ± 13 years, 23 males) in a simultaneous echocardiography and right heart catheterization (RHC) study. Based on the RHC, pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), patients were divided into four groups: Group 1 = normal PVR [<3 WU (Wood units)] and PCWP (<12 mmHg), Group 2 = raised PVR but normal PCWP, Group 3 = raised PVR and PCWP; and Group 4 = normal PVR but raised PCWP. We used spectral Doppler to measure PAcT (corrected for heart rate) and to estimate PASP (peak tricuspid regurgitation pressure drop + estimated right atrial pressure of 7 mmHg). We also tested other available methods for assessing PVR. There were small age differences between patient groups but no age difference between Groups 2 and 4. PAcT and PAcT/PASP were both significantly (P = 0.008) reduced in Groups 2 and 3 compared with Groups 1 and 4. PAcT ≤90 had an 84% sensitivity and an 85% specificity in identifying patients with PVR ≥3 WU with a positive and a negative predictive value of 88% and 81%, respectively. The non-linear relationship between PVR and PAcT gave a quadratic r = 0.61, P < 0.001. ROC curve analysis showed PAcT having the best accuracy (83%) in detecting a PVR ≥3 WU. CONCLUSION: PAcT <90 ms can serve as a strong non-invasive predictor of PVR >3 WU, which could differentiate patients with pre- and post-capillary PH.
BACKGROUND: In patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH), ascertaining raised vascular resistance as a cause is a clinical objective, for which various Doppler-based measurements have been proposed, but with modest accuracy. We hypothesize that pulmonary acceleration time (PAcT) and the ratio of PAcT/peak pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) reflect better the extent of the vascular resistance, compared with other available methods, and can differentiate accurately between pre- and post-capillary PH. METHODS AND RESULTS: We investigated 56 patients (mean age 61 ± 13 years, 23 males) in a simultaneous echocardiography and right heart catheterization (RHC) study. Based on the RHC, pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), patients were divided into four groups: Group 1 = normal PVR [<3 WU (Wood units)] and PCWP (<12 mmHg), Group 2 = raised PVR but normal PCWP, Group 3 = raised PVR and PCWP; and Group 4 = normal PVR but raised PCWP. We used spectral Doppler to measure PAcT (corrected for heart rate) and to estimate PASP (peak tricuspid regurgitation pressure drop + estimated right atrial pressure of 7 mmHg). We also tested other available methods for assessing PVR. There were small age differences between patient groups but no age difference between Groups 2 and 4. PAcT and PAcT/PASP were both significantly (P = 0.008) reduced in Groups 2 and 3 compared with Groups 1 and 4. PAcT ≤90 had an 84% sensitivity and an 85% specificity in identifying patients with PVR ≥3 WU with a positive and a negative predictive value of 88% and 81%, respectively. The non-linear relationship between PVR and PAcT gave a quadratic r = 0.61, P < 0.001. ROC curve analysis showed PAcT having the best accuracy (83%) in detecting a PVR ≥3 WU. CONCLUSION: PAcT <90 ms can serve as a strong non-invasive predictor of PVR >3 WU, which could differentiate patients with pre- and post-capillary PH.
Authors: Philip T Levy; Meghna D Patel; Georgeann Groh; Swati Choudhry; Joshua Murphy; Mark R Holland; Aaron Hamvas; Mark R Grady; Gautam K Singh Journal: J Am Soc Echocardiogr Date: 2016-09-15 Impact factor: 5.251
Authors: Sheeraz Habash; Kai Thorsten Laser; Julia Moosmann; Roland Reif; Werner Adler; Martin Glöckler; Deniz Kececioglu; Sven Dittrich Journal: Int J Cardiovasc Imaging Date: 2019-01-28 Impact factor: 2.357
Authors: B Serrano-Parreño; E Carretón; A Caro-Vadillo; Y Falcón-Cordón; S Falcón-Cordón; J A Montoya-Alonso Journal: Parasit Vectors Date: 2017-02-28 Impact factor: 3.876
Authors: Bassel Mohammad Nijres; John Bokowski; Lamya Mubayed; Sabih H Jafri; Alan T Davis; Ra-Id Abdulla Journal: Pediatr Cardiol Date: 2019-11-09 Impact factor: 1.655