Page 78 - Assessing right ventricular function and the pulmonary circulation in pulmonary hypertension Onno Anthonius Spruijt

5
day between September 2014 and March 2015. In total 96 precapillary PH patients could be included, 31 treatment naïve and 65 patients under specific PH treatment (table 1). Precapillary PH was defined as a mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) ≥ 25 mmHg and pulmonary arterial wedge pressure (PAWP) ≤ 15 mmHg at rest assessed during a right heart catheterization (RHC) performed according to current ERS/ESC guidelines [13].
Of the 96 patients with precapillary PH, 38 patients had a second complete set at of an echo and CMRI at follow-up. These data were used to compare the change in echo-derived parameters of RV function with the change in CMRI-derived-RVEF.
This study was approved by The Medical Ethics Review Committee of the VU University Medical Center. Since the study did not fall within the scope of the Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act (WMO), the study was permitted without requirement of an informed consent statement.
Echocardiography
Echocardiography was performed on a PHILIPS Sparq Ultrasound System with a S4-2 Ultrasound Probe. Measurements were done according to current guidelines *14+. Echo’s were performed by echo technicians of the echocardiography laboratory of the department of Cardiology of the VU University Medical Center. Post-processing analyses were retrospectively performed of all echo-data by one observer (MCDP). A second observer (OAS) analysed 15 echo-studies to determine interobserver variability.
Right ventricular fractional area change (RVFAC)
RVFAC was obtained from an apical four-chamber view by tracing the right ventricular endocardial border at end-diastole and end-systole. End-systole was defined as the smallest RV area. RVFAC was calculated as:
Tricuspid annulus plane systolic excursion (TAPSE)
TAPSE was determined from an apical four-chamber view with a M-mode cursor through the lateral tricuspid annulus.