Right ventricular improvement is associated with left ventricular diastolic function and size enhancement in PAH patients: an echocardiographic study

Abstract Background While pulmonary vasodilation therapy improves right ventricular (RV) function in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), data regarding left ventricular (LV) function remain sparse. Purpose We aimed to investigate whether PAH therapy improve LV function in PAH patients. Methods Between 2002 and 2020, all incident PAH patients from one PH referral centers were included, treated and followed-up according to current ESC/ERS guidelines. All patients had comprehensive echocardiography both investigating right and left ventricular function before and after 1-year of vasodilation therapy. In addition to RV echocardiographic evaluation, we focused on LV ejection fraction from Modified Simpson method, LV diameters by M-mode, transmitral pulsed-wave E/A ratio, Flow to tissue Doppler imaging E/e' ratio, and left atrial size. Results 126 patients were included (63% female, 57±17 yo), mainly from connectivite tissue associated and idiopathic PAH (24% and 28% respectively) causes. Compared to baseline, 1-year NYHA functional class (p