Accuracy of Non-Invasively Determined Pulmonary Artery Systolic Pressure

The non-invasive estimation of pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) has become a standard component of echocardiographic examination. Our aim was to evaluate the accuracy of this modality in a large series of unselected studies obtained in clinical practice. All right heart catheterizations (RHC) over a 4 year period were reviewed. Studies with echocardiography available within 48 hours were evaluated for agreement of PASP. In an effort to mirror clinical practice, RHC was used as the gold standard and values for PASP were taken directly from their respective clinical reports. Overall, 792 RHC-echocardiogram pairs were identified. Echocardiographic PASP could not be estimated in 174 of these studies (22.0%). Correlation between modalities was moderate, but agreement was poor (r=0.52, p