title: Relationship between Right Ventricular Longitudinal Strain, Invasive Hemodynamics, and Functional Assessment in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Right ventricular longitudinal strain (RVLS) is a new parameter of RV function. We evaluated the relationship of RVLS by speckle-tracking echocardiography with functional and invasive parameters in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty four patients with World Health Organization group 1 PAH (29 females, mean age 45±13 years old). RVLS were analyzed with velocity vector imaging.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with advanced symptoms {New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III/IV} had impaired RVLS in global RV (RVLSglobal, -17±5 vs. -12±3%, p<0.01) and RV free wall (RVLSFW, -19±5 vs. -14±4%, p<0.01 to NYHA class I/II). Baseline RVLSglobal and RVLSFW showed significant correlation with 6-minute walking distance (r=-0.54 and r=-0.57, p<0.01 respectively) and logarithmic transformation of brain natriuretic peptide concentration (r=0.65 and r=0.65, p<0.01, respectively). These revealed significant correlations with cardiac index (r=-0.50 and r=-0.47, p<0.01, respectively) and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR, r=0.45 and r=0.45, p=0.01, respectively). During a median follow-up of 33 months, 25 patients (74%) had follow-up examinations. Mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP, 54±13 to 46±16 mmHg, p=0.03) and PVR (11±5 to 6±2 wood units, p<0.01) were significantly decreased with pulmonary vasodilator treatment. RVLSglobal (-12±5 to -16±5%, p<0.01) and RVLSFW (-14±5 to -18±5%, p<0.01) were significantly improved. The decrease of mPAP was significantly correlated with improvement of RVLSglobal (r=0.45, p<0.01) and RVLSFW (r=0.43, p<0.01). The PVR change demonstrated significant correlation with improvement of RVLSglobal (r=0.40, p<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RVLS correlates with functional and invasive hemodynamic parameters in PAH patients. Decrease of mPAP and PVR as a result of treatment was associated with improvement of RVLS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. ; Cardiology Division of Internal Medicine, Chungnam National University, Chungnam National University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Hyeong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. ; Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Tokushima University Hospital, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kusunose
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Deborah H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. ; Department of Pathobiology, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. ; Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Respiratory Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Serpil C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Erzurum
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Grimm
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Brian P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. ; Menzies Research Institute, Tasmania, Australia.
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Marwick
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Zoran B
authors.initials: ZB
authors.lastname: Popović
keywords: Familial primary pulmonary hypertension; Heart ventricles; Ventricular function, right