Echocardiographic assessment of right ventricular function in routine practice: Which parameters are useful to predict one-year outcome in advanced heart failure patients with dilated cardiomyopathy?

BACKGROUND: Right ventricular (RV) function has recently gained attention as a prognostic predictor of outcome even in patients who have left-sided heart failure. Since several conventional echocardiographic parameters of RV systolic function have been proposed, our aim was to determine if any of these parameters (tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion: TAPSE, tissue Doppler derived systolic tricuspid annular motion velocity: S', fractional area change: FAC) are associated with outcome in advanced heart failure patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). METHODS: We retrospectively enrolled 68 DCM patients, who were New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class III or IV and had a left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction <35%. All patients were undergoing evaluation for heart transplantation or management of heart failure. Primary outcomes were defined as LV assist device implantation or cardiac death within one year. RESULTS: Thirty-nine events occurred (5 deaths, 32 LV assist devices implanted). Univariate analysis showed that age, systolic blood pressure, heart rate, NYHA functional class IV, plasma brain natriuretic peptide concentration, intravenous inotrope use, left atrial volume index, and FAC were associated with outcome, whereas TAPSE and S' were not. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the optimal FAC cut-off value to identify patients with an event was <26.7% (area under the curve=0.74). The event-free rate determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis was significantly higher in patients with FAC≥26.7% than in those with FAC<26.7% (log-lank, p=0.0003). Moreover, the addition of FAC<26.7% improved the prognostic utility of a model containing clinical variables and conventional echocardiographic indexes. CONCLUSIONS: FAC may provide better prognostic information than TAPSE or S' in advanced heart failure patients with DCM.

Volumetric and functional assessment of ventricles in pulmonary hypertension on 3-dimensional echocardiography.

BACKGROUND: Non-invasive assessment of volume and function on the right ventricle (RV) for pulmonary hypertension (PH) is limited. METHODS AND RESULTS: Patients with PH (n=23) underwent 3-dimensional (D) echocardiography (3DECHO), with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging to confirm its precision, and right heart catheterization. On linear regression analysis the RV end-systolic volume index (ESVI) was positively correlated with pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) and mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP; R=0.42 and 0.46, P=0.03 and 0.03, respectively). The RV end-diastolic volume index (EDVI) was positively correlated with mPAP (R=0.41, P<0.05). The left ventricular (LV) EDVI was inversely correlated with PVR (R=-0.48, P=0.02). The RV ejection fraction was inversely correlated with PVR and mean right atrial pressure (mRAP; R=-0.57, and -0.45, P=0.004, and 0.03, respectively). RVEDVI/LVEDVI and RVESVI/LVESVI (the diastolic and systolic remodeling indices, respectively) had a significantly positive linear relationship with PVR (R=0.67 and 0.55, P=0.0005 and 0.006, respectively), and the former had a significantly positive linear relationship with mRAP (R=0.42, P<0.05). During the recovery process in 1 specific case, the remodeling indices maintained a significant linear relationship with the hemodynamic parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Novel indices provided by 3DECHO may be utilized as alternative indicators of hemodynamic changes in PH patients.