Echocardiography in pulmonary hypertension

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Pulmonary Medicine
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive disease of the pulmonary vasculature.
• It leads to increased vascular resistance and right ventricle pressure overload.
• Echocardiography plays a crucial role in managing PH.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the diagnostic and prognostic utility of echocardiography in pulmonary hypertension.
• To highlight the strengths, weaknesses, and recent advancements in echocardiographic assessment of PH.
• To emphasize the role of echocardiography in the context of a multimodality imaging approach.

Main Methods:

• Review of current literature on echocardiography in pulmonary hypertension.
• Discussion of echocardiography's role in screening, differential diagnosis, and follow-up.
• Consideration of advanced noninvasive imaging techniques for assessing right heart structure and function.

Main Results:

• Echocardiography is an accessible tool for PH screening, differential diagnosis, follow-up, and risk stratification.
• It provides accurate hemodynamic measurements at rest and during exercise.
• Echocardiography is useful for identifying secondary causes and preclinical PH stages.
• Advanced imaging techniques offer additional insights into right heart function.

Conclusions:

• Echocardiography is a feasible and valuable tool in the real-world management of pulmonary hypertension.
• It complements right heart catheterization, the current gold standard.
• Advances in echocardiography and multimodality imaging enhance the study of the cardiopulmonary unit in PH.