RV adaptation to increased afterload in congenital heart disease and pulmonary hypertension.

BACKGROUND:The various conditions causing a chronic increase of RV pressure greatly differ in the occurrence of RV failure, and in clinical outcome. To get a better understanding of the differences in outcome, RV remodeling, longitudinal function, and transverse function are compared between patients with pulmonary stenosis (PS), those with a systemic RV and those with pulmonary hypertension (PH). MATERIALS AND METHODS:This cross-sectional study prospectively enrolled subjects for cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), functional echocardiography and cardiopulmonary exercise testing. The study included: controls (n = 37), patients with PS (n = 15), systemic RV (n = 19) and PH (n = 20). Statistical analysis was performed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with posthoc Bonferroni. RESULTS:PS patients had smaller RV volumes with higher RV ejection fraction (61.1±9.6%; p