J. Tim Marcus1, Gert Jan Mauritz2,
T. Kind2, Marielle van De Veerdonk2, Nico Westerhof2,
Anton Vonk-Noordegraaf2
1Physics & Medical Technology,
VU
The changes of right ventricular (RV) geometric shortening in surviving (n=26) and non-surviving (n=16) Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) patients were studied. RV longitudinal shortening, transverse shortening and RV fractional area change (RVFAC) were measured on 4-chamber cardiac MRI cine images. These values remained the same in the survivors, but transverse shortening and RVFAC decreased further in the non-survivors at 1 year follow-up (p<0.05). This decrease in RVFAC was associated with loss of RV ejection fraction (p=0.005). Thus, non-surviving PAH patients are characterized by a continued decline in RV transverse shortening and in RVFAC, while RV longitudinal shortening remains the same.
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