Assessment of right ventricular function during exercise echocardiography in adult patients with tetralogy of Fallot

Abstract

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Introduction The evaluation of right ventricular (RV) function in patients with tetralogy of Fallot (TF) is important as it could impact outcome. Further exhaustive assessments with exercise might offer added information. We aimed to evaluate different parameters of RV function and their changes during exercise echocardiography (ExE) in patients with TF, and to correlate them with functional capacity Methods Treadmill ExE was performed in 31 consecutive patients with corrected TF (mean age 36 ± 11, 22 male), all of them asymptomatic. Left ventricular function was studied at peak exercise, whereas RV function parameters were acquired during the immediate post-exercise period (<1.5 min), along with mitral, tricuspid and pulmonary regurgitation (PR), transtricuspid and transpulmonary systolic gradients, and LV-E/e´ values. RV function was assessed by tricuspid annulus plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), S wave velocity in the RV lateral annulus, and RV area change. A blunted functional capacity (BFC) was considered in case of achieving <100% of the predicted metabolic equivalents (METs) during ExE, according to age and gender. Results Only 1 patient had symptoms during ExE (dyspnea). Achieved METs were 13 ± 3.5 and 10 patients (32%) had BFC. LV ejection fraction (%) changed with exercise from 58 ± 10 to 63 ± 9 (p = 0.05) and E/e´ from 11 ± 4 to 10 ± 3 (p = 0.04). TAPSE did not change (19 ± 5 at rest; 21 ± 7 at exercise; p = NS), neither RV area change (41 ± 11 cm2 at rest; 39 ± 12 cm2 at exercise; p = NS), whereas TDI-S increased from 10.5 ± 2.8 to 13.8 ± 3.1 cm2/s (p < 0.001), and systolic pulmonary pressure from 20 ± 8 to 27 ± 12 mmHg (p = 0.001). Patients with BFC had more frequently significant PR at rest (60% vs 14%; p = 0.015), lower peak systolic blood pressure (152 ± 30 vs 176 ± 24 mmHg, p = 0.02) and higher exercise E/e´ (12.6 ± 2.7 vs 8.9 ± 3.0; p = 0.003), without differ in other parameters. Δ-TDI-S correlated with achieved METs and with the percent achieved of predicted METs (r = 0.46; p = 0.01, y r = 0.47; p = 0.008, respectively). In conclusion, TDI-S assessment at the tricuspid annulus is a useful parameter for assessing RV function during exercise in subjects with TF. Abstract Figure.