Relationship between Myocardial Right Ventricular Relaxation Time and Pulmonary Artery Pressure in Patients with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Introduction: Recent developments in echocardiography made assessing pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in the heart, a suitable choice. This study aimed to investigate the association of myocardial right ventricular relaxation time and systolic pulmonary artery pressure (SPAP) in PAH patients.Materials and Methods: The present study evaluated ۷۴ patients with PAH (n=۴۹) and age- and sex-matched healthy controls (n=۲۵). All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography. We evaluated the right ventricular (RV) function's echocardiographic parameters, including IVRT, IVCT, S, E, A, S’, E’, A’, ET, DT, TAPSE, FAC, and SPAP.Results: We found no significant differences in age and gender between the two studied groups (p>۰.۰۵). However, we observed a significant difference in IVRT, IVCT, E’, A’ (p=۰.۰۰۴), A, S’, DT, TAPSE, FAC and SPSP (p<۰.۰۰۱ for all cases) between two studied groups. Unlike the control group, we revealed a significant correlation between S’ and E’ (r=۰.۴۵, p=<۰.۰۰۱), S’ and A’ (r=۰.۶۶, p=<۰.۰۰۱), S’ and FAC (r=۰.۳, p=۰.۰۳۵), A and A’(r=۰.۴, p=۰.۰۰۴), TAPSE and FAC (r=۰.۸۲, p=<۰.۰۰۱), TAPSE and SPAP (r= -۰.۴۳, p=۰.۰۰۲), MPI and A (r= -۰.۳۵, p=۰.۰۱۳), MPI and ET (r= -۰.۷۲, p=<۰.۰۰۱), E/A and E/E’(r=۰.۴۷, p=<۰.۰۰۱), and BSA and S’ (r= -۰.۳, p=۰.۰۱۱). In addition, no meaningful association was found between SPAP and IVRT and IVCT (p>۰.۰۵).Conclusion: Our findings revealed that IVRT and IVCT might not be affected by the SPAP and, therefore, could be used in the assessment of right ventricular function in patients with PAH.

Keywords:

Myocardial right ventricular relaxation time , pulmonary artery pressure , Pulmonary arterial hypertension