The Evaluation of Subclinical Right Ventricular Dysfunction in Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients Without Systemic and Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Using Velocity Vector Imaging

Many risk factors for OSA, such as male gender, obesity, and increasing age are the same as for cardiovascular diseases. This fact makes it more difficult to establish a causal relationship between OSA and cardiovascular diseases. The relationship between OSA and right ventricular (RV) function is controversial. RV dysfunction may be a result of chronic intermittent hypoxia and hypercapnia during apneic episodes. It may also occur secondary to left ventricular dysfunction as a result of increased afterload and sympathetic activity which causes secondary hypertension. As systemic hypertension is one of the most accompanying and contributing factors in OSA along with obesity, we tried to compare the effects of newly diagnosed OSA on RV function with an age and body mass index- matched control group.