| Right heart catheterization (RHC) remains the gold standard for hemodynamic
assessment of the right heart and pulmonary artery. However, this is an invasive tool, and noninvasive
alternatives such as transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) are preferable. Nonetheless, the correlation
between measurements by TTE and RHC are debated. In this study, we prospectively examined the correlation
between systolic and mean pulmonary artery pressures (sPAP and mPAP) measured by RHC and
TTE in patients with hemodynamically significant rheumatic mitral stenosis (MS). Material and Methods:
Three hundred patients with hemodynamically significant MS undergoing TTE who were scheduled
to undergo RHC within 24 hours were analyzed. PAP measurements were taken for all patients by
RHC (sPAPRHC, mPAPRHC). Maximum velocity of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) jet obtained by continuouswave
Doppler with adding right atrial (RA) pressure was used for measuring sPAP by TTE (sPAPTRVmax).
Mean PAP was measured using either pulmonary artery acceleration time (mPAPPAAT) method or by
adding RA pressure to velocity–time integral of TR jet (mPAPTRVTI). Results: A good correlation between
sPAPRHC and sPAPTRVmax (r = 0.89, P < 0.001), between mPAPRHC and mPAPPAAT (r = 0.9, P < 0.001),
and between mPAPRHC and mPAPTRVTI (r = 0.92, P < 0.001) was found. Sensitivity and specificity of
sPAPTRVmax in detecting pulmonary hypertension (PH) were 92.8% and 86.6% and of mPAPPAAT were
94.1% and 73.3%, respectively. Conclusion: The noninvasive assessment of sPAP and mPAP by TTE correlates
well with invasive measurements and has an acceptable specificity and sensitivity in detecting PH
in patients with hemodynamically significant MS. (Echocardiography 2015;00:1–7) |