P1506Pulmonary decongestion pattern during stress lung ultrasound

Background B-profile detected by lung ultrasound (LUS) during stress echocardiography (SE) consists in B-lines with lung sliding and mirrors extra-vascular lung water accumulation (“wet lung”), more often found with ischemic regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA) and/or diastolic dysfunction. B-lines present at rest may also decrease during stress. Aim To assess the frequency and functional correlates of decreasing B-profile (“drying lung” pattern) during SE. Methods We prospectively performed transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and LUS evaluation at rest and peak stress in 780 patients with B-lines at rest referred for exercise (n=387), vasodilator (n=324) or dobutamine (n=69) SE for known/suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) and/or heart failure (HF). Recruitment occurred in 17 certified labs of 8 countries with the ABCD protocol, including regional wall motion abnormalities with wall motion score index (WMSI), B-lines, left ventricular contractile reserve (LVCR based on force, systolic blood pressure/end-systolic volume) and Doppler-based coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR, available in 473 patients). By LUS, we adopted the 4-site simplified scan, each site scored from 0=normal A-lines, to 10=coalescing B-lines. By selection, all patients had resting B-lines score ≥2. Invasive or noninvasive coronary angiography was available in 208 patients. Results Two B-lines stress patterns were identified: Group 1, increase or unchanged pattern (B-line stress score ≥ rest, n=698, 89%); Group 2, decrease-disappearance pattern (B-line stress score < rest for ≤2 points, n=82, 11%). Group 1 showed higher prevalence of inducible ischemia (Group 1 = 74/698 vs. Group 2 = 5/82, 11% vs. 6%, p Disappearing BLines Conclusion About one out of 10 patients with resting B-lines exhibit a decrease-disappearance pattern during stress. They show a more benign coronary anatomic, myocardial functional and coronary physiological profile compared to patients with the fixed-worsening pattern. The drying lung pattern is more often accompanied by a strong (higher peak force), non-ischemic and warm heart (with normal CFVR).