Why the study?
Pulmonary hypertension subgroups have key biologic differences requiring targeted care, but the complex geometry and tools to assess the right heart add complexity. Echocardiography can discriminate among subgroups beyond simple pressure estimation.
Echocardiography serves as a powerful, readily accessible tool for discriminating among pulmonary hypertension subgroups and adding diagnostic and prognostic accuracy beyond simply estimating pulmonary pressures.
Supports echocardiography for PH subgroup discrimination in practice; leaves open prospective validation in diagnostic algorithms.
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a complex, multi-organ system disease that is broadly defined by an elevation in pulmonary artery pressures. There are key biologic differences in the pathophysiology among the different PH subgroups that warrant a targeted approach to clinical care of these patients. The complex geometry of and wide array of clinical tools to assess the right heart in PH add another layer of complexity in patient care. Echocardiography can be used as a powerful tool to discriminate among the subgroups of PH, a critical first step in evaluating a new case of PH. In this article, we will explore novel approaches using echocardiography that go beyond simply estimating pulmonary pressures and provide a readily accessible means of adding diagnostic and prognostic accuracy in the clinical setting.
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Vedage et al. (2019) studied this question.
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