Usefulness of echocardiographic determined tricuspid regurgitation in predicting event-free survival in severe heart failure secondary to idiopathic-dilated cardiomyopathy or to ischemic cardiomyopathy.

Two-dimensional and color Doppler echocardiograms obtained in 117 patients during cardiac transplantation evaluation were reviewed. Right ventricular hypokinesia and dilation were more prevalent in patients with tricuspid regurgitation. In multivariate event-free survival analysis of 61 patients with complete clinical, echocardiographic, and cardiopulmonary exercise data, the absence of tricuspid regurgitation and New York Heart Association class were the only independent predictors of survival.