Long-term changes of right ventricular myocardial deformation and remodeling studied by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension following pulmonary thromboendarterectomy.

Right ventricular (RV) afterload in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is associated with reduced myocardial contractility and ventriculoarterial coupling. The impact of increased afterload on RV myocardial deformation was assessed by comparing the characteristics of CTEPH patients to healthy controls at baseline, and by comparing characteristics of CTEPH patients before and 12 months after pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA). Cardiac deformation and function of CTEPH patients (n = 20) and healthy controls (n = 20) were assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). CTEPH patients were also examined with right heart catheterization before and 12 months after PEA. PEA resulted in significant improvement of invasive hemodynamics and normalization of RV hypertrophy and right atrial, RV and left ventricular dimensions and volumes. RV ejection fraction improved from 30 ± 13% at baseline to 44 ± 10% at 12 months (p < 0.0001) but remained decreased compared with control subjects (54 ± 4%, p < 0.05). RV global circumferential strain (GCS) normalized 12 months after PEA, but RV global longitudinal strain (GLS) remained significantly lower in CTEPH patients than controls (baseline -12.9 ± 3.3% vs. -16.5 ± 3.6% at 12 months p < 0.01, vs. controls -19.3 ± 3.2%, p < 0.05). RV mass changes were significantly correlated with RV-ejection fraction, RV-GLS, and RV-GCS. RV-pulmonary arterial coupling with the volume method improved at 12 months (0.49 ± 0.30 vs. 0.84 ± 0.31, p < 0.0005), but remained significantly reduced compared with healthy controls (1.19 ± 0.20, p < 0.0005). RV global longitudinal and circumferential myocardial three-dimensional strain by CMR improved significantly in CTEPH patients 12 months after PEA. Improvements in myocardial deformation were associated with regression of RV hypertrophy and decrease in pulmonary artery pressure.

Waziri F ，Ringgaard S ，Mellemkjær S ，Bøgh N ，Kim WY ，Clemmensen TS ，Hjortdal VE ，Nielsen SL ，Poulsen SH ... -  《-》

Long-term changes of resting and exercise right ventricular systolic performance in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension following pulmonary thromboendarterectomy - A two-dimensional and three-dimensional echocardiographic study.

To characterize right ventricular (RV) geometry and function in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) patients at rest and during exercise before pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PEA), and at 3 and 12 months after PEA using two-dimensional and three-dimensional echocardiography with reference to clinical performance and exercise capacity. Forty subjects (20 CTEPH patients and 20 controls) were enrolled between December 2014 and January 2017. Three-dimensional echocardiography demonstrated a significant reduction and normalization of end-diastolic and end-systolic RV volumes in CTEPH patients 12 months after PEA. RV systolic function improved after PEA; however, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) (baseline 18 ± 6 mm vs 15 ± 3 mm at 12 months after PEA, P < .05) and tricuspid lateral annular systolic velocity (RV-S') (baseline -8.3 ± 2.1 cm/s vs -7.2 ± 1.3 cm/s at 12 months after PEA, P < .05) declined significantly after PEA. Tricuspid regurgitation gradient was 64 ± 21 mm Hg at baseline, 40 ± 14 mm Hg at 3 months, and 30 ± 13 at 12 months, P < .00001. RV free-wall longitudinal strain at peak exercise was significantly increased from baseline (-10.6 ± 5.5%) to 12 months of follow-up (-15.8 ± 5.2%), P < .005. Physical exercise capacity, measured as peak oxygen uptake, was significantly increased and correlated directly with improvement of resting and exercise-induced RV-EF. Improvement of RV geometry and systolic function, along with the reduction of systolic pulmonary pressure, can be expected following PEA in CTEPH patients during long-term follow-up. Improvement of RV myocardial contractility after PEA was only revealed at peak exercise over time. Importantly, physical exercise capacity was significantly increased and was found to be directly correlated with improvement of resting and exercise-induced RV-EF.

Waziri F ，Mellemkjaer S ，Clemmensen TS ，Hjortdal VE ，Ilkjaer LB ，Nielsen SL ，Poulsen SH ... -  《-》

Right ventricular adaptation to pulmonary pressure load in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension before and after successful pulmonary endarterectomy--a cardiovascular magnetic resonance study.

Rolf A ，Rixe J ，Kim WK ，Börgel J ，Möllmann H ，Nef HM ，Liebetrau C ，Kramm T ，Guth S ，Krombach GA ，Mayer E ，Hamm CW ... -  《-》

CMR-based heart deformation analysis for quantification of hemodynamics and right ventricular dysfunction in patients with CTEPH.

Quantification of hemodynamics and right ventricular (RV) function is crucial for pulmonary hypertension (PH). Cardiovascular magnetic resonance-based heart deformation analysis (CMR-HDA) has been used to assess the ventricular strain. This study was to determine the correlation of right ventricular longitudinal strain (RVLS) assessed with CMR-HDA with RV function as well as hemodynamics in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Thirty-six CTEPH patients were prospectively included in this research. Each patients underwent CMR and right heart catheterization (RHC). RVLS and RV ejection fraction (RVEF) was quantified from cine images acquired with a retrospectively gated turbo FLASH gradient-echo sequence. The late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) images were acquired using a 2D inversion recovery phase-sensitive fast gradient-echo sequence. Hemodynamics were determined with RHC. Right ventricular longitudinal strain measured with CMR-HDA was -13.99 ± 4.94%. Bland-Altman plots showed statistical agreement with RVLS with low intra- and interobserver variability. RVLS correlated with serum N-terminal-pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (r = 0.615, P < .001). RVLS inversely correlated with RVEF (r = -0.699, P < .001), and it was positively correlated with both RVESV (r = 0.664, P < .001) and myocardial the volume of LGE (r = 0.447, P = .008). Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) indicated that RVLS values of >-14.20% could be used to predict RVEF <40% with a 100% sensitivity and a 96.7% specificity. Hemodynamically, RVLS was positively correlated with mean pulmonary artery pressure (r = 0.598, P < .001) and pulmonary vascular resistance (r = 0.685, P < .001). Right ventricular longitudinal strain assessed by CMR-HDA is a readily available and reproducible parameters of RV function. RVLS >-14.20% suggests the presence of RV dysfunction.

Tao X ，Liu M ，Liu W ，Xie W ，Wan J ，Zhai Z ，Wang C ... -  《-》

Right ventricular strain before and after pulmonary thromboendarterectomy in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.

Right ventricular (RV) function is significantly impaired in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Two-dimensional speckle tracking RV strain and strain rate are novel methods to assess regional RV systolic function in CTEPH patients before and after pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE). Our goal was to (1) assess baseline longitudinal strain and strain rate of the basal RV free wall in CTEPH and (2) measure early changes in RV strain and strain rate after PTE. We performed echocardiography on 30 consecutive patients with CTEPH referred for PTE with adequate pre- and post-PTE strain imaging. Strain and strain rate were assessed 6.4 ± 4.5 days before and 9.1 ± 3.9 after PTE. Basal RV free wall strain and time to peak strain-but not basal RV strain rate and time to peak strain rate-changed significantly after PTE. Unexpectedly, basal RV strain became less negative, from -24.3% to -18.9% after PTE (P = 0.005). Time to peak strain decreased from 356 to 287 msec after PTE (P < 0.001). Preoperatively, RV strain correlated with pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) and mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) but this relationship was not evident postoperatively. Furthermore, the change in RV strain did not correlate with the change in mPAP or PVR. In patients with CTEPH, RV basal strain paradoxically became less negative (i.e., relative systolic shortening decreased) following PTE. This change in RV strain could be due to intraoperative RV ischemia and/or postoperative stunning. Thus, RV basal strain cannot be used as a surrogate marker for surgical success early after PTE.

Marston N ，Brown JP ，Olson N ，Auger WR ，Madani MM ，Wong D ，Raisinghani AB ，DeMaria AN ，Blanchard DG ... -  《-》