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BACKGROUNDIncreasing attention has been paid to cardiac involvement in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Yet, scarce information is available regarding the morphological and functional features of cardiac impairments in these patients. METHODSWe conducted a prospective and serial echocardiographic study to investigate the structural and functional cardiac changes among COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). From January 21 to April 8, 2020, a total of 51 ICU patients (31 critically ill and 20 severely ill) with confirmed COVID-19 were monitored by serial transthoracic echocardiography examinations. Outcomes were followed up until April 8, 2020. RESULTSOf 51 ICU patients, 33 (64.7%) had cardiovascular comorbidities. Elevations of levels of cardiac biomarkers including high-sensitivity cardiac troponin-I (hs-cTnI) and brain natriuretic peptide were observed in 62.7% and 86.3% of patients, respectively. Forty-two (82.3%) had at least one left-heart and/or right-heart echocardiographic abnormality. The overall median left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 65.0% (IQR 58.0-69.0%), with most (44/86.3%) having preserved LVEF. Sixteen patients (31.4%) had increased pulmonary artery systolic pressure, and 14 (27.5%) had right-ventricle (RV) enlargement. During the study period, 12 (23.5%) patients died. LVEF was comparable between survivors and non-survivors, while non-survivors had more often pulmonary hypertension (58.3% vs. 23.1%; P=0.028) and RV enlargement (58.3% vs. 17.9%, P=0.011). Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated similar survival curves between patients with vs. without echocardiographic left-heart abnormalities (P=0.450 by log-rank test), while right-heart abnormalities had adverse impact on mortality (P=0.012 by log-rank test). CONCLUSIONSTypical cardiac abnormality in ICU patients with COVID-19 was right-heart dysfunction with preserved LVEF. Echocardiographic right-heart dysfunction was associated with disease severity and increased mortality in patients affected by COVID-19. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATIONUnique identifier: NCT04352842.
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Objective@#To investigate the value of four-dimensional echocardiography combined with speckle tracking technique on the assessment of right heart function and prognosis in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).@*Methods@#In this prospective study, 51 patients with PAH diagnosed by right heart catheterization in east hospital and south hospital of Renji hospital affiliated to school of medicine of Shanghai Jiaotong University from September 2015 to July 2017 were enrolled as PAH group from July to November 2017. Meanwhile, 26 healthy volunteers with age and sex matched with pulmonary hypertension patients were recruited as control group. The patients were aged (45.8±15.5) years old in PAH group, and there were 6 males and 45 females. The healthy volunteers were aged (45.4±14.6) years old in control group, and there were 4 males and 22 females. Two-dimensional and four-dimensional echocardiographic images were obtained to measure the structure and function of the right heart. The myocardial strain of each ventricle and atrium was measured by sparkle tracking. The patients in PAH group were followed up from July 2017 to August 2018 to observe the endpoint events including all-cause death, re-hospitalization, and clinical deterioration.@*Results@#There were significant differences in two-dimensional echocardiographic parameters(including tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), right ventricular area change fraction (FAC), and right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP)), speckle tracking parameters (including global longitudinal systolic peak strain of left ventricle (LVGLS), global longitudinal systolic peak strain of right ventricle (RVGLS),left atrial reservoir function(LASr), left atrial conduit function (LASc), left atrial pump function (LASp), right atrial reservoir function (RASr), right atrial conduit function (RASc), and right atrial pump function (RASp)), and four-dimensional echocardiographic parameters(including right ventricular end diastolic volume (RVEDV) , right ventricular end systolic volume(RVESV), right ventricular stroke volume(RVSV), right ventricular freewall longitudinal strain(RVLSf), interventricular septum longitudinal strain(IVSLS), right ventricular ejection fraction(RVEF)) between control group and PAH group (all P<0.01 or 0.05).Spearman correlation analysis showed that RVEF was correlated with 6-minute walking distance (r=0.540, P<0.001), B-type natriuretic peptide (r=-0.545,P<0.001), New York Heart Association (NYHA) cardiac function classification(r=-0.583, P<0.001), TAPSE(r=0.595, P<0.001), LVGLS (r=-0.461, P=0.001) ,LASc (r=0.453, P=0.002) ,RASc (r=0.532, P<0.001) ,RVESV (r=-0.418, P=0.004) , RVSV (r=0.351, P=0.017) , and IVSLS (r=-0.450, P=0.002) . Pearson correlation analysis also showed that RVEF was correlated with FAC(r=0.579, P<0.001),RVSP (r=-0.442, P=0.002) ,RVGLS (r=-0.521, P<0.001) , LASr (r=0.483, P=0.001) , RASr (r=0.617, P<0.001) , RASp (r=0.513, P<0.001) , and RVLSf (r=-0.592, P<0.001) .After a follow-up of (10.4±2.7) months, there were 4 all-cause deaths, 5 re-hospitalizations and 5 clinical deterioration. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that increased RVEF was independent protective factor for end-point events in PAH patients (HR=0.702, P=0.043), and increased RVSP was independent risk factor for end-point events in PAH patients (HR=1.083, P=0.017). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed that RVEF and RVSP could be used to predict the end-point events in PAH patients. The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.835(P=0.001) and 0.820(P=0.001), respectively.@*Conclusions@#RVEF measured by four-dimensional echocardiography is correlated with right ventricular function parameters measured by two-dimensional echocardiography and can be used to estimate the prognosis of PAH patients. The right atrial and left atrial function assessed by speckle tracking can also reflect the right ventricular function to a certain extent.
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Objective To evaluate the right heart dysfunction in SLE patients with/ without pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) using the parameters recommended by the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE),and to examine whether the right heart dysfunction is directly related to elevated pulmonary arterial systolic pressure(PASP) and pulmonary vascular resistance(PVR).Methods Study population composited of 43 patients with SLE.The patients were divided into two groups according to the PASP measured by echocardiography:Group A was 24 patients with PASP ≤35 mm Hg,Group B was 19patients with PASP＞35 mm Hg.Twenty-two healthy subjects with age and gender matched were set as control group.Routine transthoracic echocardiography study was performed on all patients and 26 parameters were measured in order to compare the differences of the parameters among the three groups.Results There were significant differences in 17 parameters among the three groups (P ＜0.05).Tricuspid annular plane systolic excurtion(TAPSE) and E/A ratio of tricuspid flow velocities in SLE patients without PAH significantly decreased compared to control group (P =0.04 and 0.03).There were significant differences in 11 parameters between SLE with and without PAH group (P ＜0.05).Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that after adjustment for age and gender,the patients with elevated PVR associated with a 6.18-fold increase in right ventricular dysfunction compared to the patients with normal PVR (P =0.02).Conclusions The impairment of right ventricular function in SLE patients was directly related to PVR and PASP.Elevation of PVR was an important predictor for right heart dysfunction.
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Objective To compare the effects of intracoronary verapamil on coronary flow,myocardial perfusion and clinical outcome during primary percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI) for acute ST elevation myocardial infarction(STEMI).Methods A total of 99 consecutive STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI were randomly assigned to receive intracoronary verapamil or intracoronary heparinised saline immediately after stent deployment.Coronary flow was assessed by Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction(TIMI) flow grade(TFG) and corrected TIMI frame count(CTFC),and myocardial perfusion was assessed by TIMI myocardial perfusion grade(TMPG) and TIMI myocardial blush grades(MBG).Coronary and myocardial perfusion were assessed before and after PCI,as well as after drug administration by two doctors independently.Echocardiography were performed one week after PCI.Incidence of major adverse cardiac events in hospital and 3 months follow-up were compared between the two groups.Results Eight patients were excluded from the final analysis.Among the remaining 91 patients,47 patients were in the verapamil group and 44 patients were in control group.Baseline characteristics and angiographic characteristics were not significantly different between the two groups.CTFC,TFG,TMPG,and MBG before and after PCI were of no significant differences between the two groups.However,after drug administration,the verapamil group showed better outcome compared with the control group in CTFC(27.1?14.2 vs 39.0?23.8,P=0.011),TFG≥2(100% vs 90.9%,P=0.035),MBG≥2(91.5%% vs 75.5%,P=0.034),and TMPG≥2(89.4% vs 72.7%,P=0.042).LVEF measured by echocardiography was not significantly different between the two groups one week after PCI.The combined incidence of MACE in hospital(4.3% vs 9.1%,P=0.613) and at 3-month follow-up(23.9% vs 22.7%,P=0.894) was similar between the verapamil group and the control group.Conclusion Intracoronary administration of verapamil can improve coronary flow and myocardial perfusion in STEMI patients underwent primary PCI but show no obvious improvement in short-time clinical prognosis.
