Search

Several non-invasive methods for pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) measurement are proposed, but none are sufficiently accurate for use in clinical practice. This study proposes a new echocardiographic method of pulmonary artery wave reflection and investigates its efficacy in managing patients with pulmonary hypertension.Methods and Results:In total, 83 patients with left heart disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), who underwent Doppler echocardiography and right heart catheterization, were included in the study. Pulmonary artery wave reflection was characterized by separating the pulmonary artery pressure waveform into forward and backward (Pb) waves, based on wave intensity. Pulmonary artery pressure waveforms were estimated from continuous Doppler tracings of tricuspid regurgitation velocity, and flow velocity was measured using pulsed Doppler of the right ventricular outflow tract. Pb-peak was compared with catheter hemodynamic indices, and with PVR by Abbas 2003, 2013 and Haddad in relation to increased catheter PVR. Catheter PVR and Pb were strongly correlated (r=0.77, P0.001). The areas under the receiver operator characteristic curve for Pb-peak, PVR by Abbas 2003, 2013 and Haddad were 0.91, 0.72, 0.80, and 0.80, respectively, and were used to detect an increase in PVR (3 Woods units).This study describes a novel, simple, and non-invasive echocardiography method to assess pulmonary wave reflected pressure to identify patients with pulmonary hypertension due to increased PVR.

BACKGROUND Stress myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) is a well-established diagnostic and prognostic tool for coronary artery disease (CAD). However, fixed and/or reversible stress MPI defects vary considerably among patients with CAD. The usefulness of stress MPI and baseline clinical factors as independent predictors of cardiovascular events in patients with prior CAD were assessed. METHODS AND RESULTS Stress MPI was performed in 354 patients with prior CAD. Their mean age was 71 years; the mean duration from first revascularization and/or myocardial infarction (MI) onset until stress MPI was 7.1 years; and the mean follow-up period was 34 months. Cardiovascular events were observed in 100 patients (28%), and were categorized as cardiac-related death, non-fatal MI, unstable angina, heart failure and late (>2 months from stress MPI) coronary revascularization. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that peripheral arterial disease (hazard ratio [HR]=2.95; P

BACKGROUND The prognostic value of myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) was investigated in patients with mildly impaired left ventricular (LV) function who had no chest pain but were suspected to have coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS AND RESULTS Consecutive patients (n=72, mean age =67) who had no chest pain but with mildly impaired systolic LV function (mean LV ejection fraction =52%) or LV asynergy and suspected to have CAD were followed up for 4.9 years after stress MPI. The follow-up time was censored at the occurrence of cardiac death, hospitalization for congestive heart failure (CHF), acute coronary syndromes (ACS), or revascularization. Images were scored using a 20-segment model and a 0-4 scale, and then the summed stress, rest, and difference scores (SDS) were calculated. During follow-up, there were 2 cases of cardiac death, 8 of hospitalization for CHF, 4 of ACS and 2 of revascularization. Cox regression demonstrated that SDS >or=4 was an excellent predictor of cardiac events in all patients (hazard ratio =4.2, p=0.01), and especially in diabetic patients (hazard ratio =28.4, p=0.01). CONCLUSION Stress MPI is useful for predicting cardiac events and may be performed in patients without chest pain if they have mildly impaired systolic LV function or LV asynergy.

Background The purpose of this study was to investigate cardiac events in patients with transient left ventricle (LV) dilation on stress myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography images (MPI). Methods and Results Consecutive patients (n=53, 31 males, mean age 71 years) with transient LV dilation on thallium-201 stress MPI (treadmill: 21, pharmacologic: 32) were followed for 17 months. Follow-up time was censored at the occurrence of cardiac death, congestive heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, or revascularization. Images were scored and then the summed stress score (SSS), summed rest score, and summed difference score were calculated. Cardiac death occurred in 3 patients, hospitalization occurred in 8 patients, and revascularization occurred in 20 patients. The combined cardiac event rate was 59% (76% for exercise stress vs 47% for pharmacologic stress, p=0.034). Cox regression analysis demonstrated that a combination of higher SSS and slow washout rate was the best predictor of cardiac events (hazard ratio =3.3, p=0.029). Conclusions A high cardiac event rate is associated with transient LV dilation on thallium-201 stress MPI. The event rate is particularly high for exercise stress MPI. Furthermore, a combination of the SSS and thallium-201 slow washout is the best predictor of cardiac events in patients with transient LV dilation. (Circ J 2005; 69: 1223 - 1229)