Abstract

Background: Assessment of pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) by Doppler echocardiography and determining the correlation between pulmonary vascular resistance with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP), TAPSE index in patients with ischemic Heart Failure with reduced ejection fraction. Methods: Observational Study on 82 patients with ischemic heart disease, LVEF < 40%, at the Cardiology Department of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy from 04/2016 - 05/2017. Results: The average PVR was 3.91 ± 1.85 Wood units, no difference between age and gender groups (p> 0.05), but statistically significant difference in patients with NYHA III and IV compared to NYHA I, II (p< 0.05). When EF is below < 30%, the rate of increased PVR is higher than normal value (35.4 % vs 4.9%). There is a strong correlation between the LVEF and PVR (r= - 0.545, p < 0.001),

especially when PVR < 8 Wood units (r= - 0.618, p < 0.001). When the PASP increases, the rate of increased PVR is higher than normal value (54.9% vs 9.8%, p <0.001), with an enough correlation coefficient (r= 0.361, p < 0.001). In patients with Right heart failure evaluated by TAPSE and by S’ wave, there is a significant difference in the rate of increased PVR than normal value (41.5% vs 1.2%; 34.1 vs 8.5%, p 0.001). PVR is closely correlated with TAPSE (r= -0.590; p <0.001) and is inversely correlated with S’ wave (r= -0.590; p < 0.001). Conclusions: PVR increases with the severity of dyspnea NYHA and heart failure EF, unrelated to age and gender. PVR has a statistically significant correlation with left ventricular ejection fraction, pulmonary artery systolic pressure and right ventricular function.