LAUSR

Background One of the major causes of systemic sclerosis (SSc)-related death is pulmonary arterial hypertension, which develops in 12–15% of patients with SSc and accounts for 30–40% of deaths. Consequently, monitoring of pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) and resistances is essential in patients with SSc. Abbas formula performed by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) was reported as a good tool to quantify pulmonary vascular resistances (PVR). Objectives Explore the accuracy of TTE and Abbas formula to quantify PVR in patients with SSc. Methods All consecutive patients with SSc, diagnosed according to the 2013 ACR/EULAR criteria, or the LeRoy and Medsger criteria for diffuse or limited subsets classification, had within 24H a Doppler echocardiographic examination and right-heart catheterization were performed. The ratio of peak tricuspid regurgitant velocity (TRV, ms) to the right ventricular outflow tract time-velocity integral (TVIRVOT, cm) obtained by Doppler echocardiography (TRV/TVIRVOT) was then correlated with invasive PVR measurements using regression analysis. An equation was modeled to calculate PVR in Wood units (WU) using echocardiography, and the results were compared with invasive PVR measurements [1]. Results Thirty-three consecutive patients were included, 13 (39.4%) were male and the mean age was 64.6±12.1 years. Most were classified as limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc; n=29, 87.9%). All patients tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, 18 (21.2%) for anti-scleroderma-70, 7 (54.5%) for anticentromere antibodies and 2 (6.1%) for anti-RNA polymerase III antibodies. Mean and systolic PAP were 31±9 and 53±16 mmHg respectively. There was a good correlation between right ventricle to right atrium gradient pressure assessed by TTE and RHC (R=0.620, P<0.001). RVP assessed by Abbas formula (2.6±1.0 wood units) were well correlated with RVP assessed by RHC (4.8±2.3; R=0.446, P=0.013). Conclusions Doppler echocardiography using Abbas formula may provide a reliable, noninvasive method to determine PVR in SSc patients. References Abbas AE, Fortuin FD, Schiller NB, Appleton CP, Moreno CA, Lester SJ. A simple method for noninvasive estimation of pulmonary vascular resistance. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2003 Mar 19;41(6):1021–7. Disclosure of Interest None declared