1. Right ventricular function assessed by two-dimensional strain and tissue Doppler echocardiography in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension and effect of vasodilator therapy.
- Author
-
Borges AC, Knebel F, Eddicks S, Panda A, Schattke S, Witt C, and Baumann G
- Subjects
- Adult, Aged, Cardiac Catheterization, Exercise Test, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Hypertension, Pulmonary diagnostic imaging, Hypertension, Pulmonary drug therapy, Male, Middle Aged, Myocardial Contraction drug effects, Prognosis, Pulmonary Wedge Pressure physiology, Echocardiography, Doppler, Hypertension, Pulmonary physiopathology, Myocardial Contraction physiology, Vasodilator Agents therapeutic use, Ventricular Function, Right physiology
- Abstract
Two-dimensional strain echocardiography is a new method for the assessment of regional contractility. Thirty-seven patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (mean age 56.4 +/- 11 years) and 38 normal subjects (mean age 58.3 +/- 12 years) underwent 2-dimensional echocardiography and tissue Doppler echocardiographic evaluation of right ventricular (RV) global function and regional contractility. Patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension additionally underwent 6-minute walking distance tests and right-sided cardiac catheterization before and after (8 +/- 3 months) vasodilator therapy. Moderate or severe RV dysfunction was present in all patients (2-dimensional strain of the basal segment of the RV free wall: -8.8 +/- 4.1% systolic longitudinal deformation) compared with normal subjects (-24.3 +/- 4.7% systolic longitudinal deformation, p < 0.001) and was improved with vasodilator therapy after 6 to 11 months (-13.3 +/- 6.2% systolic longitudinal deformation, p < 0.001).
- Published
- 2006
- Full Text
- View/download PDF