Accuracy and Influencing factors of Pulmonary Artery Systolic Pressure estimated by Doppler Echocardiography: Comparsion with Right Heart Catheterization

Purpose This study aimed to explore the accuracy and influencing factors of noninvasive assessment of pulmonary artery systolic pressure by Doppler echocardiography (sPAPECHO) with right heart catheterization (RHC) as reference. Methods A total of 218 highly suspected pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients who underwent RHC and echocardiography within 7 days were included. The ratio of (sPAPECHO-sPAPRHC)/sPAPRHC was calculated and divided into three groups, namely, the underestimation group, accurate group and overestimation group by ± 10% as the boundary. The correlation and consistency between tricuspid regurgitation (TR) derived parameters and RHC results were tested by Pearson and Bland-Altaman methods. With mPAP ≥ 25mmHg measured by RHC as the standard diagnostic criteria of PH, ROC curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy. The influencing factors of sPAPECHO were analyzed by ordered regression analysis. Results sPAPECHO had the greatest correlation coefficient (r = 0.781, P < 0.001) and best diagnostic efficiency (AUC = 0.98) compared with other TR related methods. Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated the bias of sPAPECHO (mean bias = 0.07mmHg, 95% limits of agreement: -32.08 to + 32.22mmHg) was lower than that of TR-PG (mean bias = 5.87mmHg, 95% limits of agreement: -26.46 to + 38.21mmHg). The results of ordered regression analysis showed that TR signal quality, PAWP and sPAPRHC level affected the accuracy of sPAPECHO (P < 0.05). Relative to the signal quality of type A, the OR value of type B and C signal quality were 0.26 (95%CI: 0.14, 0.48) and 0.23 (95%CI: 0.07, 0.73), respectively. The OR value of PAWP was 0.94 (95%CI: 0.89, 0.99). Compared with high sPAPRHC level, the OR value of low and medium sPAPRHC level were 21.56 (95%CI: 9.57, 48.55) and 5.13 (95%CI: 2.55, 10.32), respectively. Conclusion sPAPECHO was superior than other TR-related methods in screening PH. TR signal quality is vital for accurate assessment of sPAPECHO. For patients with pre-capillary disease, a higher echocardiographic threshold is more suitable for determining the possibility of PH, especially during the initial stage of disease.