Table 1.
Main clinical studies addressing Ssc in patients with or without PAH.
| Imaging method | Author (year) | Number of patients | Clinical setting | Analyzed parameter | SSc | Controls | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Echocardiography | Pigatto et al. (2015) [35] |
n = 88 | SSc versus healthy subjects | sPAP (mmHg) | 33 ± 14.0 | 22 ± 5.0 | <0.0001 |
| TAPSE (mm) | 23 ± 3.0 | 26 ± 2.0 | <0.0001 | ||||
| PVR (WU) | 1.9 ± 0.6 | 1.4 ± 0.3 | 0.001 | ||||
| global RVLS (%) | −24.8 ± 4.0 | −25.6 ± 3 | n.s. | ||||
| Mukherjee et al. (2016) [58] |
n = 178 | SSc versus healthy subjects | sPAP (mmHg) | 31.4 ± 13.3 | 22.6 ± 4.4 | 0.0001 | |
| TAPSE (mm) | 21.6 ± 4.7 | 22.5 ± 4.0 | 0.307 | ||||
| PVR (WU) | 1.48 ± 0.45 | 1.24 ± 0.26 | 0.002 | ||||
| global RVLS (%) | −17.7 ± 5.9 | −20.4 ± 2.4 | 0.005 | ||||
| Durmus et al. (2015) [36] |
n = 80 | SSc versus healthy subjects | sPAP (mmHg) | 24.2 ± 5.7 | 19.8 ± 6.2 | 0.002 | |
| TAPSE (mm) | 21.1 ± 3.2 | 24.3 ± 3.4 | <0.001 | ||||
| global RVLS (%) | −18.5 ± 4.9 | −21.8 ± 2.4 | <0.001 | ||||
|
| |||||||
| cMRI | Hachulla et al. (2009) [69] |
n = 52 | SSc-PAH versus SSc without PAH | RV hypertophy, n (%) | 2 (17) | 0 (0) | 0.04 |
| RV dilation, n (%) | 4 (33) | 7 (17) | 0.25 | ||||
| Mean RV EF (%) | 54 (13) | 50 (11) | 0.20 | ||||
| Mean RV EDV index (ml/mm2) | 75 (9) | 79 (23) | 0.67 | ||||
| Delayed contrast enhancement, n (%) | 1 (8) | 10 (26) | 0.42 | ||||
| Tzelepis et al. (2007) [70] |
n = 36 | Abnormal versus normal 24-h ECG in SSc | Delayed contrast enhancement, n (%) | 15 (78.9) | 9 (52.9) | 0.098 | |
| Number of enhancing segments, n | 5.4 ± 4.8 | 2.5 ± 2.9 | 0.035 | ||||
| Enhancement at RV insertion points, n (%) | 4 (21.1) | 2 (11.8) | 0.66 | ||||
| Kelemen et al. (2015) [46] |
n = 53 | SSc-PAH versus IPAH | RV mass (g) | 58.8 | 65.9 | 0.47 | |
| RV EDV index (ml/mm2) | 88.1 | 90.1 | 0.83 | ||||
| RV EF (%) | 46.0 | 41.6 | 0.29 | ||||
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| Scintigraphy | Papagoras et al. (2014) [65] | n = 35 | SSc patients | Reversible myocardial perfusion defects, n of pts (%) | 21 (60) | - | - |
sPAP: systolic pulmonary artery pressure; TAPSE: tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion; PVR: pulmonary vascular resistance; RVLS: right ventricle longitudinal strain; EF: ejection fraction; EDV: end diastolic volume.