Association of right ventricle diastolic diameter with pulmonary function, exercise tolerance and exacerbation period in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A prospective study.

BACKGROUND: The echocardiogram is a useful method for monitoring the cardiovascular complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but it is not clear if morphological and functional cardiac variables are able to identify patients with unfavorable COPD progression. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate morphological and functional echocardiographic variables associated with exacerbation of the disease, pulmonary function parameters and functional capacity evaluation in COPD patients. METHOD: A longitudinal observational study including 91 patients diagnosed with COPD, who were stratified in two groups according to their basal right ventricle diastolic diameter (RVDD) measuring greater and less than 35 mm. They underwent clinical evaluation, echocardiography, spirometry and 6-minute walking-test (6MWT). RESULTS: The study found that patients with RVDD greater than 35 mm showed worse functional capacity in the 6MWT (p = 0.05) and more exacerbation of the disease during the one-year follow-up (p = 0.05). There were correlations of greater RVDD vs forced vital capacity (R = -0.27; p = 0.02) and distance in the 6MWT (R = 0.55; p = 0.03) in patients with exacerbation. In the univariate regression analysis, the RVDD was responsible for 55% of the variation in distance in the 6MWT (-0.75 m) in COPD patients. CONCLUSION: The RV dilation is associated with unfavorable prognostic markers in COPD, such as the worsening of the functional capacity and more frequent exacerbations. The echocardiogram may be a useful tool to identify patients who need more aggressive strategies to control the evolution of the disease with potential impact in pulmonary rehabilitation.

Detection of Early Ultrasonographic Markers of Cardiovascular Dysfunction in Prediabetes Patients.

BACKGROUND: Prediabetes individuals may present incipient signals of cardiovascular injury and evaluate with unfavorable outcome. The aim of this study was to identify early ultrasonographic markers of cardiac dysfunction and arterial stiffness among glucose intolerant patients compared to healthy individuals. METHODS: Cross-sectional study with the composition of two groups: Prediabetes (PD) who met the criteria for pre-diabetes and Normoglycemic (NG): presented no criteria of pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus in all applied tests. Clinical evaluation, assessment of cardiac function by transthoracic echocardiogram, carotid intima-media thickness by carotid ultrasonographic and evaluation of arterial stiffness by SphygmoCor® device was performed. RESULTS: Eighty adults were included in this study: PD (n = 43) and NG (n = 37). PD patients were more dyslipidemic and presented early alterations in echocardiographic variables, like: peak mitral velocity E (E (cm/sec): NG 84 ± 13 vs. PD 77 ± 11, P = 0.03), E/A Tricuspid inflow (NG: 1.5 ± 0.4 vs. PD 1.3 ± 0.3, P = 0.03), Tricuspid tissue Doppler E' (E'tric (cm/sec): NG 15.2 ± 4.4 vs. PD 13.4 ± 3.2, P = 0.04) and increased arterial stiffness (Pulse Wave Velocity: PWV (m/s): NG 7.2 ± 1.5 vs. PD 7.9 ± 1.7, P = 0.03). In the regression analysis, having an impaired oral glucose test was shown to be independently associated with reduced E Mitral, even after adjusting for a set of confounding factors. CONCLUSIONS: PD patients showed early signals of an impaired cardiac function and an increased pulse wave velocity when compared with healthy individuals. These results point to treatment optimization strategies, especially when considering preventive measures for cardiovascular outcomes, like diabetic cardiomyopathy.