Impact of the 2022 ESC/ERS revised hemodynamic definition on the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension

Abstract

Objectives: In the 2022 European Society of Cardiology/European Respiratory Society (ESC/ERS) guidelines, the hemodynamic definition of pulmonary hypertension (PH) was revised to mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP)>20 mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa) at rest. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the revised hemodynamic definition on the diagnosis of PH. Methods: Patients with dyspnea or highly suspected PH who underwent right heart catheterization (RHC) in Beijing Anzhen hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University from September 2021 to October 2022 were enrolled retrospectively. According to resting hemodynamics, the patients were divided into 3 groups: no-PH (mPAP≤20 mmHg) group, low-pressure PH (20 mmHg<mPAP<25 mmHg) group and high-pressure PH (mPAP≥25 mmHg) group. The diagnosis and classification of PH and the hemodynamic parameters in different groups were compared before and after the revision of diagnostic criteria. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of maximum of mPAP (mPAPmax) and mPAP/cardiac output (CO) slope of multi-point in PH. Results: A total of 117 patients were included for analysis, the age was (53.7±17.5) years, 37 (31.6%) patients were male. According to the 2022 ESC/ERS definition, 99 patients were diagnosed as PH, including 8 patients (6.8%) in the low-pressure PH group and 91 patients (77.8%) in the high-pressure PH group. There were 18 patients (15.4%) in the non-PH group. Comparing to the 2015 ESC/ERS definition, 8 patients were newly diagnosed as PH. Echocardiography indexes pulmonary systolic pressure (sPAP) [(57.6±7.3) vs (38.5±13.6) mmHg], max tricuspid regurgitation velocity (TRVmax) [(360.4±28.9) vs (271.4±52.2) cm/s] and RHC index mPAP [(22.2±1.3) vs (16.1±2.6) mmHg] in low-pressure PH group were higher than those in no-PH group (all P<0.05). However, further analysis of hemodynamics during exercise showed mPAPmax [(42.1±5.6) vs (35.6±4.7) mmHg, P=0.006] and mPAP/CO slope of multi-point [(4.9±1.3) vs (3.6±1.1) mmHg·L-1·min-1,P=0.024] in low-pressure PH group were higher than those in no-PH group. The ROC curve cut-off value of mPAPmax for the diagnosis of PH was 39 mmHg, with a sensitivity of 75.0%, a specificity of 76.5%, and the area under the curve (AUC) and 95%CI is 0.816 (0.638-0.994). The ROC curve cut-off value of mPAP/CO slope of multi-point for the diagnosis of PH was 4.44 mmHg·L-1·min-1,with a sensitivity of 75.0%, a specificity of 76.5%, and an AUC (95%CI) of 0.794 (0.606-0.983). Conclusion: After the revision of the hemodynamic definition of PH in the 2022 ESC/ERS guidelines, more PH patients with pulmonary vascular disease are detected, thereby facilitating early diagnosis and treatment.