Introduction:The interpretation of cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) in adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) is challenging because of the high variability in cardiac lesions and because the poor exercise tolerance is often associated with abnormal heart function. The aim of this work is to study the correlation between echocardiographic evaluation and CPET parameters in ACHD population.
Methods:This is a retrospective clinical study enrolling all ACHD patients afferent to our institution from March 2016 to February 2020 collecting clinical, CPET and echocardiographic data. Population was divided into three groups and compared: patients with prevalent left heart lesions (L group), patients with prevalent right heart lesions (R group) and patients with single ventricle physiology (SV group). Finally, correlation analysis were performed to assess any relationship between echocardiographic and CPET data.
Results:60 patients were included in the study, 20 were male, median age was 36 [30-46.75] years old, 23 had a prevalent left side pathology, 31 a prevalent right side pathology and 6 had a single ventricle physiology. L group had a significantly lower predicted peak VO2 in comparison to SV group (p=0.03). Statistical analysis showed a correlation between the right ventricular function and the ventilatory reserve in the R group (R2 0.517). In SV group we found correlation between ventricular-arterial coupling and Cardiac mechanical efficiency with the ventilatory reserve (R2 0.6 and 0.65, respectively) and the oxygen pulse (R2 0.97 and 0.98, respectively), and a correlation between the ejection fraction and the Oxygen pulse (R2 0.52). Finally, a correlation between the TAPSE/PAPs index and the ventilation (R2=0.79), the ratio between the oxygen uptake and the workload (R2=0.61) and the oxygen consumption (R2=0.72) was found.
Coclusion:In our preliminary experience, echocardiographic parameters of cardiocirculatory efficiency correlate with the oxygen consumption per heart beat evaluated at the CPET in single ventricle patients, and the breath rate is influenced not only by ventricular function but also by the coupling between the ventricle and the arterial system. In patients affected by right-side disease, the breath rate correlate with the right ventricular function. Finally, in the left heart lesion population, a correlation between the TAPSE/PAPs index with the ventilation, the oxygen consumption per beat and the oxygen consumption was found.