Echocardiographic evaluation of prevalence of pulmonary hypertension in β-thalassemia major: A cross sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Pulmonary hypertension is a common complication associated with thalassemia syndromes and it may play an important role in the pathogenesis of right ventricle failure. The true prevalence of pulmonary hypertension in patients with thalassemia major remains unclear and has been reported to be between 2 and 79%.Materials and methods: In total, 70 patients with thalassemia major were initially examined. Patients with valvular left heart disease, congenital heart diseases such as atrial septal defect (ASD) and ventricular septal defect (VSD), left heart failure, and chronic embolism were excluded. All patients with thalassemia major underwent echocardiography. Based on tricuspid regurgitation velocity (TRV), the patients were divided into the following three groups: low, medium, and high risk of pulmonary hypertension.Results: The mean age of the subjects was 24 y; 60.6% of the subjects were males and 39.4% of the subjects were females. Overall, three (4.5%) subjects were considered at a high risk of pulmonary hypertension. The mean hemoglobin level in the patients with a high probability of pulmonary hypertension was 8.2 g/dL and that in the patients with a low or medium probability of pulmonary hypertension was 9.1 g/dL. No significant difference was observed between the groups (p = .059).Conclusion: This study showed that, based on new echocardiography criteria, the prevalence of pulmonary hypertension secondary to β-thalassemia was 4.5% and there was no correlation between TRV and the number of received blood units or disease duration.