The majority of the PAH and CTEPH patients were diagnosed at age >65 years, in functional class III-IV, and exhibiting several comorbidities. PAH survival in SPAHR was similar to other registers.

The majority of ECMO-treated ARDS patients have good physical and social functioning. However, lung parenchymal changes on HRCT suggestive of fibrosis and minor pulmonary function abnormalities remain common and can be detected more than 1 year after ECMO. Furthermore, most patients experience a reduction in HRQoL due to the pulmonary sequelae.

The results suggest that men and women run similar risks of early and late mortality after CABG when patient characteristics are taken into account.

Assessment of right ventricular (RV) function is a challenge due to complex anatomy. We studied systolic and diastolic tricuspid annular excursion and longitudinal RV fractional shortening as geometry-independent measures in patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). Forty patients with PE were studied within 24 hours after admission and after 3 months, and compared to 23 healthy subjects used as controls. We recorded tricuspid annular plane systolic (TAPSE) and diastolic (TAPDE) excursion from the four-chamber view and calculated RV fractional shortening as TAPSE/RV diastolic length. The diastolic RV function was defined as the ratio of the amplitude of tricuspid annular plane excursion during atrial systole to total tricuspid annular plane diastolic excursion (atrial/total TAPDE). In the acute stage, the TAPSE was decreased in PE compared to healthy subjects (19 +/- 5 vs. 26 +/- 4 mm, P < 0.001), with greater reduction in patients with increased, compared to normal, RV pressure (16.6 +/- 5 vs. 20.5 +/- 5 mm, P < 0.05). The atrial/total TAPDE was increased in patients compared to healthy subjects (47 +/- 13% vs. 38 +/- 7%, P < 0.001) and normalized during the follow-up. Although the patients were asymptomatic after 3 months, the TAPSE recovered incompletely as compared to healthy subjects (21.4 +/- 4 vs. 26 +/- 4 mm, P < 0.001). Both systolic and diastolic RV function are impaired in acute PE. Diastolic function recovers faster than systolic; therefore, the atrial contribution to RV filling may be a useful measure to follow changes in diastolic function in PE.