Right ventricular stroke work in children with pulmonary arterial hypertension: a promising approach

To the Editor, We read with great interest the article by Di Maria et al,1 describing the importance of RV performance, especially RV stroke work (RVSW), in children with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The authors investigated the relation between echocardiographic measurements of RV function and the ‘gold standard’ of right heart catheterisation in children and found that RVSW strongly correlates with non-invasive data of RV function.1 The authors concluded that RVSW correlates with outcome parameters, for example, abnormal WHO class, and mortality, in children with PAH. We completely agree with the findings of Di Maria et al1 and want to emphasise the importance of echocardiographic evaluation, for example, tricuspid annular peak systolic excursion (TAPSE) for longitudinal management of paediatric patients with PAH. Di Maria et al1 compared data of patients with adverse outcomes to patients with WHO class I–III of different...
Source: Heart - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: PostScript Source Type: research