Right Heart Hemodynamics in Pulmonary Hypertension - An Echocardiography and Catheterization Study

Background: Echocardiography (ECHO) plays a key role in both the diagnosis and prognosis of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Many equations have been published to assess right heart hemodynamics using ECHO. The objective of this study was to test the accuracy and precision of different echocardiographic equations in comparison with the right heart catheterization. Methods and Results: Complete right heart hemodynamic assessments were prospectively obtained from 115 individuals (mean age 66 +/- 1 years; 57 males) who had known or suspected PH. Several equations were tested for the estimation of right atrial pressure, mean and systolic pulmonary artery pressure (MPAP), cardiac output, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). The accuracy of ECHO was good, with a mean difference <2 mmHg for all of the pressure calculations and +/- 0.6 L/min for cardiac output. However, the PVR estimation was weak using any one of the formulae. For all the parameters, the precision of ECHO was moderate. The MPAP calculation detected PH with a sensibility of 97% and specificity of 83%. However, ECHO underdiagnosed post-capillary PH. Conclusions: ECHO is a good method for the diagnosis of PH, with an adequate calculation of right pressures, but cannot accurately calculate PCWP and PVR.