Correlation Between Doppler Echocardiography and Right HearCatheterisation-Derived Systolic and Mean Pulmonary Artery Pressures: Determinants of Discrepancies Between the Two Methods

Raw data related to the article. Abstract Background There is still controversy about whether transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) can provide reliable estimations<br> of pulmonary artery pressures (PAP). The primary endpoint of this study was to evaluate the<br> correlation between TTE and right heart catheterisation (RHC) in estimating systolic (SPAP) and mean<br> (MPAP) pulmonary artery pressures.<br> Methods Between January 2011 and December 2018, 141 consecutive patients (average age 63.6611.5 years; 84<br> women) with suspected or confirmed pulmonary hypertension (PH) were enrolled into this retrospective<br> observational monocentric study. All patients underwent TTE and, within 3 hours, RHC. The correlation<br> between TTE and RHC in estimating both SPAP and MPAP was retrospectively determined.<br> Results Seventeen (17) of the patients were excluded due to insufficient TTE signal quality. Of the remaining 124<br> patients, 18 had no PH. There was moderate correlation between both SPAP and MPAP estimated by TTE<br> and those assessed by RHC (r=0.65 and r=0.60, respectively). Bland-Altman analysis revealed a bias of<br> –11.9 mmHg (with the 95% limits of agreement ranging –45.4 to 121.5 mmHg) for SPAP estimation and<br> –4.6 mmHg (with the 95% limits of agreement ranging –27.9 to 118.8 mmHg) for MPAP estimation,<br> suggesting a general overestimation of PAP by TTE. The main factors responsible for discrepancies between<br> TTE and RHC were: female gender, arrhythmic cardiac electrical activity, systemic arterial hypertension,<br> and diuretic treatment.<br> Conclusions Transthoracic echocardiography frequently overestimated PAP in comparison with RHC, especially in<br> hypertensive women with arrhythmias and under diuretic treatment.