Right ventricular mechanics in patients with aortic stenosis and preserved ejection fraction: Is arterial hypertension a new player in the game?

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the influence of aortic stenosis (AS) on right ventricular (RV) strain and particularly the importance of arterial hypertension on this association. This cross-sectional study included 107 patients with moderate and severe AS (with and without hypertension) and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (>50%) and 82 age-matched normotensive and hypertensive controls who underwent comprehensive echocardiographic examination. AS patients were divided into normotensive and hypertensive groups. Left ventricle (LV) mass index gradually increased from the controls, across the moderate AS to the severe AS. There was a trend of reduction of RV global and layer-specific longitudinal strain of the whole ventricle and RV free wall from the controls, across the moderate AS to the severe AS. RV global longitudinal strain, as well as layer-specific RV longitudinal strains, was significantly lower in the patients with severe AS than the controls and the normotensive patients with moderate AS. Endocardial and epicardial RV strains were lower in hypertensive than in normotensive patients with moderate AS. In patients with severe AS, there was no difference between normotensive and hypertensive patients. LV mass index and mean aortic valve gradient were associated with RV global longitudinal strain in AS patients independently of systolic blood pressure, LV ejection fraction (EF), age, and body mass index (BMI). In conclusion, RV mechanics was deteriorated in the patients with moderate and severe AS. There was a trend of RV longitudinal strain worsening in the hypertensive patients with AS in comparison with their normotensive counterparts. Severity of AS, expressed by the mean AV gradient, was related with RV longitudinal strain.