Prognostic Value of the Evaluation of Right Ventricular Function by Portable Ultrasound in Patients With Pulmonary Hypertension.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a disease characterized by obliteration and remodeling of small-caliber pulmonary arteries, progressively generating an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance, right heart failure, and death. Current guidelines recommend a multidimensional approach which includes clinical, echocardiographic, exercise and hemodynamic variables to classify patients by risk and thus define a prognosis and guide therapeutic decisions.

Transthoracic Echocardiography (TTE) currently plays an important role in the diagnostic algorithm of PAH as it is minimally invasive and readily available. Moreover, many echocardiographic parameters are closely related to pulmonary hemodynamics. Some TTE parameters are associated with mortality and surviving in these patients, such as: shortening fraction, presence of pericardial effusion, eccentricity index, systolic displacement of the tricuspid annular plane (TAPSE), size of the right atrium and right ventricular free wall strain.

Ultrasound (US) is the only method which enables realtime bedside imaging of the heart. Focused cardiac US provides worthy diagnostic information useful for the the clinical management of critical care patients. The use of cardiac ultrasound in the last decade has gradually increased among non cardiologists. Pocket ultrasounds are part of the third generation of ultrasounds described in the literature. These have the characteristic of being light devices weighing less than 1kg and that can be carried in the pocket of the medical uniform. This leads many researchers to believe that in the not too distant future its use will be part of the physical examination routine, as the stethoscope is now.

There is a wide range of studies, which have shown a good correlation between standard echocardiography and portable cardiac ultrasound. There is no doubt about the usefulness of portable cardiac ultrasound in the intensive care unit, emergency department and even during hospital rounds; however, its usefulness during the daily examination in a follow-up consultation of patients at high risk of cardiovascular deterioration, such as patients with PAH, has not yet been demonstrated.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Does the measurement of tricuspid annular plane systolic displacement (TAPSE) by portable cardiac ultrasound have prognostic utility in the follow-up of patients with Pulmonary Hypertension?