TY - JOUR T1 - Non-invasive versus invasive heamodynamic evaluation in an heterogeneous pulmonary hypertension population: When echo goes in the cath-lab JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 40 IS - Suppl 56 SP - P918 AU - Michele D'Alto AU - Emanuele Romeo AU - Paola Argiento AU - Anna Correra AU - Berardo Sarubbi AU - Maria Pignatiello AU - Antonietta Caronna AU - Nicola Grimaldi AU - Raffaele CalabrĂ² AU - Maria Giovanna Russo Y1 - 2012/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P918.abstract N2 - Aim: To evaluate the accuracy of doppler echocardiography (DE) in estimating the key measurements of right heart catheterization (RHC) in an heterogeneous pulmonary hypertension (PH) population: mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP), cardiac index (CI), capillary wedge pressure (CWP) and pulmonary vascular resistances (PVR).Methods: One hundred thirty-five consecutive patients referred to our PH tertiary center from January to December 2011 underwent standard DE within 1 hour of a clinically indicated RHC.Results: Twelve/135 (9%) did not have PH. Of 123 PH patients with PH, 54 (40%) had group 1, 39 (29%) group 2, 22 (16%) group 3, and 8 (6%) group 4 PH. Echo showed a satisfactory correlation to invasive evaluation.View this table:Nevertheless, it was inaccurate in defining the presence of pre-capillary (CWP ≤15 mmHg, groups 1, 3 and 4) versus post-capillary (CWP >15 mmHg, group 2) PH leading to a misclassification in 22/123 (18%) of analyzed patients. In particular, sensitivity of echo for pre-capillary PH was 82% and specificity 83%.Conclusion: Doppler echocardiography is an essential tool for the screening of PH, but it provides an initial approach to the patients with suspected PH. In particular, DE is frequently inaccurate in estimating the CWP leading to an hazardous misclassification of the PH. ER -