title: Echocardiography in pulmonary hypertension.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pulmonary hypertension is a progressive disease of the pulmonary vasculature characterized by increased vascular resistance and pressure overload of the right ventricle. This review aims to describe the diagnostic and prognostic role of echocardiography in pulmonary hypertension with particular consideration of relative strengths, weaknesses and new advances.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although right heart catheterization (RHC) remains the gold standard, echocardiography represents an accessible and feasible real-world tool for screening, differential diagnostic, follow-up assessments and risk stratification in pulmonary hypertension. In the context of clinical scenario and multimaging approach, echocardiography provides accurate measurements of pulmonary haemodynamics, either at rest and/or during exercise, and is particularly useful in ruling out secondary causes of pulmonary hypertension and/or detecting preclinical stages. The use of advanced noninvasive imaging techniques may provide additional information in assessing right heart structure and function.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Advances in echocardiography and the multimodality imaging approach continue to provide new understandings and opportunities for the study of the right heart-pulmonary circulation unit in pulmonary hypertension.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital 'Scuola Medica Salernitana', Salerno, Italy bCenter of Pulmonary Hypertension, Thoraxclinig at University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bossone
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferrara
authors.forename: Ekkehard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Grünig
mesh_terms: D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011652:Pulmonary Circulation / Q000502:physiology*