Interest of TAPSE/sPAP ratio for noninvasive pulmonary arterial hypertension risk assessment.

BACKGROUND: Although ventriculoarterial coupling is associated with better survival in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), existing PAH risk assessment method has not considered echocardiographic criteria of right ventricular to pulmonary artery coupling. We aimed to test the prognostic value of the echocardiographic tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion/systolic pulmonary artery pressure (TAPSE/sPAP) ratio for noninvasive PAH risk assessment. METHODS: We retrospectively studied a cohort of 659 incident PAH patients from 4 independent French PH centers (training cohort: n = 306, validation cohort n = 353) who underwent follow-up TAPSE/sPAP measurement in addition to previously validated noninvasive risk stratification variables. The primary composite outcome was 3-year all-cause mortality or lung transplantation from re-evaluation. RESULTS: Mean age was 55 ± 17 years-old with a majority of female (66%). The three main PAH causes were connective tissue disease (26%), idiopathic (24%) and porto-pulmonary (19%). The primary composite outcome occurred in 71 (23%) patients. Multivariable Cox regression analysis retained 3 noninvasive low-risk criteria as associated with the primary composite outcome: NYHA I-II (p = 0.001), NTproBNP <300 ng/L or BNP <50 ng/L (p = 0.004), and TAPSE/sPAP >0.33 mm/mmHg (p = 0.004). The more the low-risk criteria achieved at follow-up, the better the event-free survival both in the training and validation cohort (log-rank p < 0.001). In the training cohort, the c-index for these 3 criteria, for COMPERA 2.0 and for the noninvasive French Pulmonary Hypertension Network method were 0.75, 95%CI(0.70-0.82), 0.72 95%CI(0.66-0.75), 0.71 95%CI(0.62-0.73), respectively. CONCLUSION: The 3 following dichotomized low-risk criteria: TAPSE/sPAP >0.33 mm/mmHg, NYHA I-II and NTproBNP <300 ng/L or BNP <50 ng/L allow to identify low-risk PAH patients at follow-up.

External validation of a refined four-stratum risk assessment score from the French pulmonary hypertension registry.

INTRODUCTION: Contemporary risk assessment tools categorise patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) as low, intermediate or high risk. A minority of patients achieve low risk status with most remaining intermediate risk. Our aim was to validate a four-stratum risk assessment approach categorising patients as low, intermediate-low, intermediate-high or high risk, as proposed by the Comparative, Prospective Registry of Newly Initiated Therapies for Pulmonary Hypertension (COMPERA) investigators. METHODS: We evaluated incident patients from the French PAH Registry and applied a four-stratum risk method at baseline and at first reassessment. We applied refined cut-points for three variables: World Health Organization functional class, 6-min walk distance and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide. We used Kaplan-Meier survival analyses and Cox proportional hazards regression to assess survival according to three-stratum and four-stratum risk approaches. RESULTS: At baseline (n=2879), the four-stratum approach identified four distinct risk groups and performed slightly better than a three-stratum method for predicting mortality. Four-stratum model discrimination was significantly higher than the three-stratum method when applied during follow-up and refined risk categories among subgroups with idiopathic PAH, connective tissue disease-associated PAH, congenital heart disease and portopulmonary hypertension. Using the four-stratum approach, 53% of patients changed risk category from baseline compared to 39% of patients when applying the three-stratum approach. Those who achieved or maintained a low risk status had the best survival, whereas there were more nuanced differences in survival for patients who were intermediate-low and intermediate-high risk. CONCLUSIONS: The four-stratum risk assessment method refined risk prediction, especially within the intermediate risk category of patients, performed better at predicting survival and was more sensitive to change than the three-stratum approach.

Epidemiological characteristics and therapeutic management of patients with chronic heart failure who use smartphones: Potential impact of a dedicated smartphone application (report from the OFICSel study).

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of transitional care services for patients discharged from hospital after acute heart failure is challenging, especially in terms of reducing subsequent heart failure hospitalizations. The increased adoption of smartphone applications in society offers a new opportunity to interact with patients to avoid rehospitalization. Thus, electronic health (e-health) can enhance the impact of existing therapeutic education programmes. AIMS: To determine the prevalence of smartphone use among patients with chronic heart failure, and to assess the epidemiological characteristics and therapeutic management of these patients, with a broader aim of developing smartphone-based therapeutic education programmes for patients. METHODS: The French Observatoire français de l'insuffisance cardiaque et du sel (OFICSel) registry was conducted in 2017 by 300 cardiologists, and included both inpatients and outpatients who had been hospitalized for heart failure at least once in the previous 5 years. Data collection included demographic and heart failure-related variables, which were provided by the cardiologist and by the patient via a questionnaire. RESULTS: Among the 2822 patients included, 2517 completed the questionnaire. Of this total, 907 patients (36%) were smartphone users. Compared with non-users, smartphone users were younger, were more frequently men, more frequently lived in cities, had a higher educational level and were more frequently professionally active. Smartphone users less frequently had diabetes, hypertension, atrial fibrillation or ischaemic cardiopathy. Only 22% of patients were actively participating in a therapeutic education programme. CONCLUSION: Smartphones were used by more than one-third of patients with heart failure in France in 2017, underscoring the feasibility of developing a smartphone application to deliver therapeutic education to the population with chronic heart failure.

Haemodynamics and serial risk assessment in systemic sclerosis associated pulmonary arterial hypertension.

The prognostic importance of follow-up haemodynamics and the validity of multidimensional risk assessment are not well established for systemic sclerosis (SSc)-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).We assessed incident SSc-PAH patients to determine the association between clinical and haemodynamic variables at baseline and first follow-up right heart catheterisation (RHC) with transplant-free survival. RHC variables included cardiac index, stroke volume index (SVI), pulmonary arterial compliance and pulmonary vascular resistance. Risk assessment was performed according to the number of low-risk criteria: functional class I or II, 6-min walking distance (6MWD) >440 m, right atrial pressure <8 mmHg and cardiac index ≥2.5 L·min-1·m-2Transplant-free survival from diagnosis (n=513) was 87%, 55% and 35% at 1, 3 and 5 years, respectively. At baseline, 6MWD was the only independent predictor. A follow-up RHC was available for 353 patients (median interval 4.6 months, interquartile range 3.9-6.4 months). The 6MWD, functional class, cardiac index, SVI, pulmonary arterial compliance and pulmonary vascular resistance were independently associated with transplant-free survival at follow-up, with SVI performing better than other haemodynamic variables. 1-year outcomes were better with increasing number of low-risk criteria at baseline (area under the curve (AUC) 0.63, 95% CI 0.56-0.69) and at first follow-up (AUC 0.71, 95% CI 0.64-0.78).Follow-up haemodynamics and multidimensional risk assessment had greater prognostic significance than at baseline in SSc-PAH.

Assessment of potential heart donors: A statement from the French heart transplant community.

Assessment of potential donors is an essential part of heart transplantation. Despite the shortage of donor hearts, donor heart procurement from brain-dead organ donors remains low in France, which may be explained by the increasing proportion of high-risk donors, as well as the mismatch between donor assessment and the transplant team's expectations. Improving donor and donor heart assessment is essential to improve the low utilization rate of available donor hearts without increasing post-transplant recipient mortality. This document provides information to practitioners involved in brain-dead donor management, evaluation and selection, concerning the place of medical history, electrocardiography, cardiac imaging, biomarkers and haemodynamic and arrhythmia assessment in the characterization of potential heart donors.

Risk assessment, prognosis and guideline implementation in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Current European guidelines recommend periodic risk assessment for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The aim of our study was to determine the association between the number of low-risk criteria achieved within 1 year of diagnosis and long-term prognosis.Incident patients with idiopathic, heritable and drug-induced PAH between 2006 and 2016 were analysed. The number of low-risk criteria present at diagnosis and at first re-evaluation were assessed: World Health Organization (WHO)/New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class I or II, 6-min walking distance (6MWD) >440 m, right atrial pressure <8 mmHg and cardiac index ≥2.5 L·min-1·m-21017 patients were included (mean age 57 years, 59% female, 75% idiopathic PAH). After a median follow-up of 34 months, 238 (23%) patients had died. Each of the four low-risk criteria independently predicted transplant-free survival at first re-evaluation. The number of low-risk criteria present at diagnosis (p<0.001) and at first re-evaluation (p<0.001) discriminated the risk of death or lung transplantation. In addition, in a subgroup of 603 patients with brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) or N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) measurements, the number of three noninvasive criteria (WHO/NYHA functional class, 6MWD and BNP/NT-proBNP) present at first re-evaluation discriminated prognostic groups (p<0.001).A simplified risk assessment tool that quantifies the number of low-risk criteria present accurately predicted transplant-free survival in PAH.

Prognosis assessment of cardiac involvement in systemic AL amyloidosis by magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac involvement is one of the most important prognostic factors in systemic AL amyloidosis. The aim of our study was to assess the role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in prognosis evaluation in AL amyloidosis. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 29 consecutive patients with AL amyloidosis who had undergone CMR. Clinical, laboratory, echocardiographic, and CMR characteristics were compared between CMR-positive (ie, with CMR signs of cardiac localization of AL amyloidosis) and CMR-negative patients. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the prognostic value of positive CMR in comparison with other prognostic factors. RESULTS: CMR was positive in 11 patients (38%). The overall survival rates for CMR-positive patients were 28%, 14%, and 14% versus 84%, 77%, and 45% at 1, 2, and 5 years, respectively, for CMR-negative patients (P=.002). Late gadolinium enhancement patterns, biventricular hypertrophy, and pericardial effusion on CMR were more frequent in nonsurvivors. Congestive heart failure, abnormal echocardiography, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group grade >1, brain natriuretic peptide, and left ventricular ejection fraction <55% also were associated with a decreased survival. The presence of congestive heart failure was the only significant variable associated with survival on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: We found that the presence of a positive CMR in AL amyloidosis was associated with a significantly increased risk of death, in particular of cardiac origin, but was not independent of clinical congestive heart failure.