Relation of RV Function to Presence and Degree of Systemic Hypertension

Abstract

Hypertension is an important non-communicable disease in Africa. It is the most important cardiovascular risk factor. The effect of hypertension on left ventricle has been documented for long time, but sparse and consistent evidence shows an impact of hypertension on the right ventricle. The RV can be studied with many imaging and functional modalities. In clinical practice, echocardiography is the mainstay of evaluation of RV structure and function. Aim of this study was to analyze impact of presence and severity of systemic arterial hypertension (HTN) on right ventricular function measured by tissue Doppler echocardiography. For this aim we included sixty consecutive patients from outpatient clinics and thirty healthy age and sex matched individuals and made a full 2D and tissue doppler study for the RV and compared results for non-hypertensives, stage 1 and stage 2 hypertensives. Doppler data obtained at the tricuspid valve showed statistically significant results regarding E, E/A, DT and IVRT correlating the presence and degree of hypertension with RV diastolic function (p<0.001). The current study demonstrated that RV diastolic dysfunction not only is an early marker that is correlated to presence of systemic arterial hypertension but also showed it to be a marker of its severity and degree of control as conveyed by stage of hypertension.