Association of pulmonary hypertension with the outcome in patients undergoing edge-to-edge mitral valve repair

Objectives The association of pulmonary hypertension (PH) with the outcome after mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (M-TEER) focusing on the new ESC/ERS guidelines definition for PH. Background PH is frequently found in patients with mitral regurgitation and is associated with lower survival rates. Recent studies were based on echocardiographic parameters, but results based on invasive haemodynamics differentiating distinct types of PH using the new definition for PH are missing. Methods 449 consecutive M-TEER-treated patients from December 2009 to February 2015 were included in this retrospective analysis. All patients were stratified by the distinct types of PH (no PH, precapillary PH, isolated postcapillary PH, combined post-PH and precapillary PH) according to the definitions of the ESC/ERS guidelines for the diagnosis of PH from 2015 (meanPA cut-off <25 mm Hg, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) cut-off <= 15 mm Hg, diastolic pulmonary gradient cut-off >= 7 mm Hg or pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) >3 WU) and 2022 (meanPA cut-off <= 20 mm Hg, PCWP cut-off <= 15 mm Hg, PVR cut-off >= 3 WU). Results Patients with any type of PH (2015: meanPA cut-off 25 mm Hg; 2022: meanPA cut-off >20 mm Hg) showed a higher risk of death after M-TEER compared with patients with no PH (2015: HR 1.61 (95% CI 1.25 to 2.07); p<0.001 and 2022: HR 2.09 (95% CI 1.54 to 2.83); p<0.001). Based on the new PH definition, each PH subgroup showed a lower survival after M-TEER compared with patients with no PH. Echocardiographic estimated systolic PAP showed a correlation with invasively measured mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) (r=0.29, p<0.001) and systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (r=0.34,p<0.001). Cox-regression analysis showed higher invasive diastolic, systolic and mean pulmonary pressures were associated with higher all-cause mortality (p<0.001). In addition, invasive measured higher right atrial pressure, lower pulmonary arterial compliance, higher PVR and higher wedge pressure were identified as predictors of all-cause mortality after M-TEER. Conclusions The new PH definition discriminates PH groups and mortality better than the old definition. The lower threshold of mPAP of 20mmHg improved prognostication in this cohort of patients.