Right ventriculo-arterial coupling in pulmonary hypertension: A magnetic resonance study

  • Javier Sanz
  • , Ana García-Alvarez
  • , Leticia Fernández-Friera
  • , Ajith Nair
  • , Jesús G. Mirelis
  • , Simonette T. Sawit
  • , Sean Pinney
  • , Valentin Fuster

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

263 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: To quantify right ventriculo-arterial coupling in pulmonary hypertension by combining standard right heart catheterisation (RHC) and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and to estimate it non-invasively with CMR alone. Design: Cross-sectional analysis in a retrospective cohort of consecutive patients. Setting: Tertiary care centre. Patients 139 adults referred for pulmonary hypertension evaluation. Interventions CMR and RHC within 2 days (n=151 test pairs). Main outcome measures: Right ventriculo-arterial coupling was quantified as the ratio of pulmonary artery (PA) effective elastance (E a, index of arterial load) to right ventricular maximal end-systolic elastance (E max, index of contractility). Right ventricular end-systolic volume (ESV) and stroke volume (SV) were obtained from CMR and adjusted to body surface area. RHC provided mean PA pressure (mPAP) as a surrogate of right ventricular end-systolic pressure, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) and pulmonary vascular resistance index (PVRI). E a was calculated as (mPAP - PCWP)/SV and E max as mPAP/ESV. Results: E a increased linearly with advancing severity as defined by PVRI quartiles (0.19, 0.50, 0.93 and 1.63 mm Hg/ml/m 2, respectively; p<0.001 for trend) whereas E max increased initially and subsequently tended to decrease (0.52, 0.67, 0.54 and 0.56 mm Hg/ml/m 2; p=0.7). E a/E max was maintained early but increased markedly with severe hypertension (0.35, 0.72, 1.76 and 2.85; p<0.001), indicating uncoupling. E a/E max approximated non-invasively with CMR as ESV/SV was 0.75, 1.17, 2.28 and 3.51, respectively (p<0.001). Conclusions: Right ventriculo-arterial coupling in pulmonary hypertension can be studied with standard RHC and CMR. Arterial load increases with disease severity whereas contractility cannot progress in parallel, leading to severe uncoupling.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)238-243
Number of pages6
JournalHeart
Volume98
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2012

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