Pulmonary venous flow and risk of cardiovascular disease in essential hypertension

The prognostic value of changes in pulmonary vein flow patterns after surgical repair for primary mitral regurgitation

BACKGROUND

The pulmonary vein (PV) flow pattern is influenced by the presence of mitral regurgitation (MR). After a successful reduction in MR severity, the pattern is expected to be changed. We aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of a change in the PV flow pattern in patients with primary MR undergoing mitral valve repair (MVR).

METHODS

The PV flow pattern was assessed with transthoracic echocardiography in 216 patients (age 65 [IQR 56-72] years, 70% male) with primary MR before and after surgical MVR. The population was divided according to a change in the PV flow pattern following MVR into 'improvers' and 'non-improvers'.

RESULTS

Non-improvers (15%) had a higher prevalence of paroxysmal AF at baseline (46% vs. 22%, p = 0.004), left ventricular dysfunction (LVEF ≤60%) (39% vs. 21%, p = 0.020), and had lower systolic pulmonary artery pressure (28[IQR 25-38] vs. 35[IQR 26-48] mmHg, p = 0.018) compared to improvers (85%). After a median follow-up of 83[IQR 43-140] months, 26(12%) patients died. Non-improvers had higher mortality rates than improvers (p = 0.009). On multivariable Cox regression analysis, a lack of improvement in the PV flow pattern remained independently associated with all-cause mortality (HR 2.322, 95% CI 1.140 to 4.729, P = 0.020).

CONCLUSION

A lack of improvement in the PV flow pattern is independently associated with worse long-term survival in patients with primary MR undergoing MVR.

Challenges in Echocardiography for the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Non-Ischemic Hypertensive Heart Disease

It has been well established that arterial hypertension is considered as a predominant risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases. Despite the link between arterial hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, arterial hypertension may directly affect cardiac function, leading to heart failure, mostly with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). There are echocardiographic findings indicating hypertensive heart disease (HHD), defined as altered cardiac morphology (left ventricular concentric hypertrophy, left atrium dilatation) and function (systolic or diastolic dysfunction) in patients with persistent arterial hypertension irrespective of the cardiac pathologies to which it contributes, such as coronary artery disease and kidney function impairment. In addition to the classical echocardiographic parameters, novel indices, like speckle tracking of the left ventricle and left atrium, 3D volume evaluation, and myocardial work in echocardiography, may provide more accurate and reproducible diagnostic and prognostic data in patients with arterial hypertension. However, their use is still underappreciated. Early detection of and prompt therapy for HHD will greatly improve the prognosis. Hence, in the present review, we shed light on the role of echocardiography in the contemporary diagnostic and prognostic approaches to HHD.

Pulmonary pulse transit time: a novel echocardiographic indicator of hemodynamic and vascular alterations in pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary fibrosis

INTRODUCTION

Pulse transit time (PTT) is generally assumed to be a surrogate marker for blood pressure changes and arterial stiffness. The aim was to evaluate whether pulmonary PTT (pPTT) may be noninvasively measured by Doppler echocardiography and whether it might be valuable for detecting pulmonary hemodynamic and vascular alterations.

METHODS

We defined pPTT as the interval between R-wave in the ECG and the corresponding peak late systolic pulmonary vein flow velocity measured by pw-Doppler in the pulmonary vein. Twelve consecutive patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) and 12 subjects without any cardiovascular or respiratory disease were included in the study. All patients underwent a standard echocardiography including pPTT measurement.

RESULTS

In the PH group, 5 patients had idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (WHO 1), 1 patient PH associated with connective tissue disease (CTD, WHO 1) without pulmonary fibrosis (PF), and 6 patients PH associated with PF either due to CTD (WHO 1) or other etiology (WHO 3). Mean pPTT was significantly shorter in the PH group (138.0 ± 16.78 msec; P < 0.0001) than in the control group (383.5 ± 23.84 msec). Within the PH group, the subgroup of patients with PF showed significantly shorter mean pPTT (93.50 ± 15.47 msec; P = 0.004) than the subgroup of patients with PH without PF (182.6 ± 14.35 msec).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study suggest that pPTT might be an interesting surrogate marker of pulmonary hemodynamic and vascular alterations in PH and PF. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the possible influence of other variables on pPTT.

Additive interaction of metabolic syndrome and chronic kidney disease on cardiac hypertrophy, and risk of cardiovascular disease in hypertension

BACKGROUND

Recent epidemiologic analyses have demonstrated a link between the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). We examined the association between MetS, CKD, and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), and prospectively investigated the predictive value of the combination of MetS and CKD for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in essential hypertension.

METHODS

A total of 1,160 essential hypertensive patients (mean age 63 years, 53% male) underwent clinical evaluation, laboratory testing, and Doppler echocardiography, and were monitored for a mean follow-up of 4.8 years.

RESULTS

At baseline, total subjects were divided into four groups according to the presence/absence of MetS and/or CKD, and, compared to the group without MetS and CKD (MetS-/CKD-); those with MetS and CKD (MetS+/CKD+) had a multivariate-adjusted odds ratio of 2.40 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.66-3.48) for LVH. During the follow-up period, 172 subjects developed CVD. Multiple Cox regression analysis including LV mass index (LVMI) showed that the presence of MetS as well as that of CKD were each independent predictors of CVD (hazard ratio 1.90 for MetS, 1.82 for CKD). We then divided the total subjects into four groups, and found that, compared to the MetS-/CKD- group, multivariate-adjusted HR for the MetS+/CKD+ group was 3.58 (95% CI 2.14-5.95).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that, in essential hypertension, the combination of MetS and CKD is a strong risk for LVH as well as a strong and independent predictor of subsequent CVD. These findings highlight the clinical importance of the concomitance of MetS and CKD in essential hypertension.