Why the study?
The determinants and relevance of right ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony in HFrEF are poorly understood.
Does acute afterload or preload modulation affect right ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony in patients with HFrEF?
Does acute afterload or preload modulation affect right ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony in patients with HFrEF?
Right ventricular dyssynchrony is elevated in HFrEF, correlates with adverse hemodynamics and clinical events, and can be mitigated by acute RV afterload reduction.
RV dyssynchrony may stratify risk in HFrEF; leaves open whether afterload reduction improves outcomes.
AIMS: The determinants and relevance of right ventricular (RV) mechanical dyssynchrony in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) are poorly understood. We hypothesized that increased afterload may adversely affect the synchrony of RV contraction. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 148 patients with HFrEF and 36 controls underwent echocardiography, right heart catheterization, and gated single-photon emission computed tomography to measure RV chamber volumes and mechanical dyssynchrony (phase standard deviation of systolic displacement timing). Exams were repeated after preload (N = 135) and afterload (N = 15) modulation. Patients with HFrEF showed higher RV dyssynchrony compared with controls (40.6 ± 17.5° vs. 27.8 ± 9.1°, P < 0.001). The magnitude of RV dyssynchrony in HFrEF correlated with larger RV and left ventricular (LV) volumes, lower RV ejection fraction (RVEF) and LV ejection fraction, reduced intrinsic contractility, increased heart rate, higher pulmonary artery (PA) load, and impaired RV-PA coupling (all P ≤ 0.01). Low RVEF was the strongest predictor of RV dyssynchrony. Left bundle branch block (BBB) was associated with greater RV dyssynchrony than right BBB, regardless of QRS duration. RV afterload reduction by sildenafil improved RV dyssynchrony (P = 0.004), whereas preload change with passive leg raise had modest effect. Patients in the highest tertiles of RV dyssynchrony had an increased risk of adverse clinical events compared with those in the lower tertile [T2/T3 vs. T1: hazard ratio 1.98 (95% confidence interval 1.20-3.24), P = 0.007]. CONCLUSIONS: RV dyssynchrony is associated with RV remodelling, dysfunction, adverse haemodynamics, and greater risk for adverse clinical events. RV dyssynchrony is mitigated by acute RV afterload reduction and could be a potential therapeutic target to improve RV performance in HFrEF.
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Monzo et al. (2024) studied this question.
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