Prognostic value of liver stiffness in patients with tricuspid regurgitation

Abstract

Abstract Background It has been known that liver stiffness (LS) assessed by transient elastography is associated with right heart dysfunction and the severity of the tricuspid regurgitation. However, the predictive value of LS for adverse outcome in patients with tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is uncertain. Objectives The aim of this study was to identify the prognostic value of LS in patients with moderate or greater degree of TR. Methods A total of 257 patients with moderate or severe TR who underwent both echocardiography and liver transient elastography were retrospectively analysed. Patients who have congenital heart disease or chronic liver disease including, viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, autoimmune hepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma were excluded. Severe LS was defined as elevated kilopascal (kPa) ≥11 (High kPa). Primary outcome was defined as the composite of all-cause death and unplanned admission for heart failure. Results One hundred forty-one patients had moderate TR and 116 patients had severe TR. One hundred twenty-eight (50%) patients had severe liver stiffness. During a follow-up period (median 637 days, IQR 1317), 116 (45.1%) primary outcomes occurred. In Kaplan-Meier analysis, patients who had severe TR with high kPa showed the worst outcome. Moreover, patients who had high kPa were associated with worse clinical outcome both moderate TR group and severe TR group than patients with low kPa. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, severe liver stiffness was independently associated with primary outcomes (HR=1.66, 95% CI: 1.28–2.16), p<0.001). Conclusions LS is independently associated with adverse clinical outcomes in both patients with moderate and severe TR. The degree of liver fibrosis measured by transient elastography may be a useful marker of cardiac hepatopathy related to TR, and this may contribute to predict the prognosis of TR. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.