ASE updates recommendations for assessing right heart function in patients with pulmonary hypertension
The American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) has shared new recommendations focused on evaluating right heart function in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH).
The new document, “Guidelines for Echocardiographic Assessment of the Right Heart in Adults and Special Considerations in Pulmonary Hypertension: Recommendations from the American Society of Echocardiograph,” was developed by an international group of experts in echocardiography, multimodality imaging, cardiology and PH. It was published in full in the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography.[1]
A lot has changed in the years since ASE’s previous recommendations on this topic were published back in 2010. In fact, the very definition of PH is different now thanks to an update from the World Symposium on Pulmonary Hypertension. PH is now defined as a mean pulmonary arterial pressure of >20 mmHg. The change came after new evidence highlighted the fact that even a slightly elevated mean pulmonary artery pressure can increase a person’s risk of morbidity or even death.
These updated guidelines were designed to ensure sonographers and other clinicians have the information they need to screen patients when appropriate and then identify any early warnings signs of PH.
“These guidelines have the potential to significantly impact patient care by standardizing and refining echocardiographic assessment of the right heart by focusing on screening and early detection, and improved risk stratification and monitoring of therapeutic response,” guideline chair Monica Mukherjee, MD, medical director of the Johns Hopkins Bayview Echocardiography Lab, said in a statement. “By integrating comprehensive echocardiography techniques and employing updated diagnostic thresholds, we hope to enhance the accuracy of PH evaluation and ultimately guide more precise therapeutic decisions to improve patient outcomes.”
“By leveraging our collaborative expertise across these specialties, we hoped to provide a unified, physiologically informed framework for assessing right heart function and refining risk stratification based on reproducible echocardiographic parameters that align with disease pathophysiology,” added guideline co-chair Lawrence Rudski, MDCM, director of the Azrieli Heart Centre at Jewish General Hospital and a professor of medicine at McGill University.
Click here to read the full guidelines.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.