Echocardiographic characteristics of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease

Cardiovascular complications in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) are frequently investigated extrarenal manifestations with contradictory outcomes. The primary goal of this study is to explore the prevalence of cardiovascular abnormalities using echocardiography and analyze their associations with clinical characteristics at different stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression in ADPKD patients. We included sixty-eight patients in the study. All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography using GE Vingmed Ultrasound (GE Norway Health Tech, Oslo, Norway). Demographic information, prior medical history, and antihypertensive medication use were recorded. To diagnose the rapid progression of CKD, creatinine levels were measured twice, with a one-year interval. Analysis revealed left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in over 40% of ADPKD patients, as indicated by various LVH parameters. Notably, a decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) after one year of observation was associated with increased left ventricular mass. Other prevalent findings included asymptomatic left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (ALVDD) in 39% of patients, left atrium (LA) enlargement in 39%, and mild valvular regurgitations in 80%. Ejection fraction, aortic root dimension, and the prevalence of mitral valve prolapse were not significantly increased. Cardiac indices did not differ substantially across the different eGFR stages. LVH, LA enlargement, ALVDD and valvular regurgitations are characteristics of cardiac phenotype in ADPKD. Cardiac indices were not different across different stages of CKD pointing towards the diagnosis of ADPKD being the main drive of their occurrence.