Detection of Pulmonary Hypertension by Combining Echocardiography and Chest Radiography

In pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients, chest radiographs often show an increase in the diameter of the right descending pulmonary artery (RDPA). The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether a combination of echocardiography and chest radiography for detecting PH is more accurate than echocardiography alone.

Between 2013 and 2019, a total of 1301 patients were included in this study. Among them, 1030 patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) were used to establish a linear regression model by combining echocardiographic and chest radiographic variables, and 136 CHD patients and 135 non-CHD patients were used to compare the accuracy between a new model and the 2015 ESC/ERS guidelines for right heart catheterization recommendation. The chest radiographic diameter of the RDPA, and the echocardiography-measured tricuspid regurgitation pressure gradient and the main pulmonary artery diameter were assessed.

The TG-RDPA composite index correlated more strongly than either the TG or RDPA (r = 0.741 vs 0.709 or 0.544; both p value <0.001). The TG-RDPA composite index was more accurate in detecting PH than the ESC/ERS 2015 guidelines (overall accuracy: 83.8% vs 77.1%; missed diagnoses rate: 12.0% vs 22.5%). The overall accuracy of the main pulmonary artery-RDPA composite index (r = 0.599, p value <0.001) was 84.1% compared to overall accuracy of 77.1% using the ESC/ERS 2015 guidelines.

A combination of echocardiography and chest X-ray may be a more accurate way to detect PH and an alternative method for suspected PH patients without tricuspid regurgitation velocity.