TY - JOUR T1 - The Use of Transthoracic Echocardiogram to Quantify Pulmonary Vascular Resistance in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 1495 LP - 1501 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.180571 VL - 46 IS - 11 AU - Sophie Billet AU - Grégory Pugnet AU - Thomas Chollet AU - Gaétan Charbonnier AU - Pauline Fournier AU - Grégoire Prévot AU - Laurent Tetu AU - Maxime Cournot AU - Hélène Derumeaux AU - Didier Carrié AU - Michel Galinier AU - Olivier Lairez Y1 - 2019/11/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/46/11/1495.abstract N2 - Objective. To explore the accuracy of tricuspid regurgitation velocity (TRV) to right ventricular outflow tract time-velocity integral (TVIRVOT) ratio by Doppler to determine pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).Methods. Thirty-five consecutive adult patients with SSc, fulfilling the 2013 European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology classification criteria, with sinus rhythm referred for right heart catheterization (RHC), were retrospectively included. All patients underwent a transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) performed within 24 h of RHC. Patients with SSc were recruited regardless of disease activity, cardiac symptoms, and treatment regimen. Doppler measurements were compared to RHC measurements. A linear regression equation was generated to predict PVR by echocardiogram based on the TRV/TVIRVOT ratio. The accuracy of Doppler measurements for predicting PVR > 3 Wood units was assessed by computing the areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves.Results. There were 20 (57%) females in the study. The mean age was 65 ± 12 years. Mean and systolic pulmonary arterial pressures were 31 ± 8 and 53 ± 15 mmHg, respectively. There was a good correlation between TRV/TVIRVOT ratio assessed by Doppler and PVR measured by RHC (R = 0.743, p < 0.001). The equation generated by this analysis was the following: PVR by Doppler = 11.3 × (TRV/TVIRVOT) + 1.7. A cutoff value of 0.21 for TRV/TVIRVOT ratio provided the best sensitivity (86%) and specificity (86%) to determine PVR > 3 Wood units.Conclusion. Our study suggests that TTE using Doppler could be a useful and noninvasive tool for estimating PVR in patients with SSc. ER -