Facilitating Earlier Diagnosis of Pulmonary Hypertension Using a Novel Noninvasive Diagnostic
Abstract
Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is frequently underdiagnosed due to limitations of transthoracic echocardiography, particularly when tricuspid regurgitant velocity (TRV) is unmeasurable. CorVista PH (point-of-care test for pulmonary hypertension [POC-PH]) is a novel, Food and Drug Administration-cleared point-of-care diagnostic with 82% sensitivity and 92% specificity for identifying mean pulmonary artery pressure elevation.
Summary: We present a patient who underwent multiple transthoracic echocardiograms negative for PH. POC-PH testing prompted right heart catheterization, revealing group 2 PH, and enabling the diagnosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. We also present 3 patients with measurable TRV, all of whom tested positive on POC-PH and were confirmed to have PH via right heart catheterization. These included both precapillary and postcapillary PH phenotypes.
Discussion: An average of 3 transthoracic echocardiograms are required to diagnose pulmonary arterial hypertension spanning a period exceeding 2 years.
Take-home message: POC-PH demonstrated clinical utility in identifying PH where transthoracic echocardiography failed to raise suspicion.
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a case report, done in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Strategy for Mitigating DKA Risk in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes on Adjunctive Treatment with SGLT Inhibitors: A STICH Protocol
- Glucoraphanin: a broccoli sprout extract that ameliorates obesity-induced inflammation and insulin resistance
- SGLT2 Inhibitors in Heart Failure: Targeted Metabolomics and Energetic Metabolism
- Mechanisms of blood pressure reduction with sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors
- Sodium-glucose cotransporter inhibitors: beyond glycaemic control
- Decoding the effects of SGLT2 inhibitors on cardiac arrhythmias in heart failure
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.