Feasibility and accuracy of a routine echocardiographic assessment of right ventricular function

The evaluation of right ventricular (RV) systolic function is important for its clinical and prognostic value but difficult to obtain due to RV complex anatomy. Aims of this study were to evaluate the feasibility of a routine use of RV fractional shortening area (FSA), systolic excursion (TAPSE) and peak systolic velocity (PSV) of tricuspidal annular motion in a large series of cases (900 pts), to determine the values in normal subjects (150) and in patients (750) with different pathologies and to correlate these indexes to clinical and echo-Doppler variables. FSA (50.3 ± 10% vs 54.6 ± 9% p < 0.01), TAPSE (20.2 ± 5 vs 24.7 ± 4 mm, p < 0.01) and PSV (16.2 ± 4 vs 20 ± 4 cm/s, p < 0.01) were lower in patients than in normals, correlated positively to left ventricular ejection fraction and negatively to the pulmonary pressure. The values of 17 mm for TAPSE, 12 cm/s for PSV and 37% for FSA identified patients with high specificity. The values in subgroups of pathological patients were evaluated and compared.