Journal of Clinical Medicine (Sep 2021)

Assessment of Clinical Usefulness of Resting Electrocardiogram (PH-ECG Score) in Monitoring the Efficacy of Balloon Pulmonary Angioplasty (BPA) in Patients with Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension (CTEPH)

  • Michał Piłka,
  • Małgorzata Mańczak,
  • Szymon Darocha,
  • Marta Banaszkiewicz,
  • Rafał Mańczak,
  • Michał Florczyk,
  • Piotr Kędzierski,
  • Arkadiusz Pietrasik,
  • Paweł Balsam,
  • Paweł Kurzyna,
  • Marcin Wasilewski,
  • Rafał Wolański,
  • Adam Torbicki,
  • Marcin Kurzyna

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10194548
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 19
p. 4548

Abstract

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Background: Balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) is a form of therapy for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). The study objective is to assess the clinical usefulness of resting ECG (PH-ECG score) in monitoring the efficacy of BPA in CTEPH patients. Methods and results: Ninety-four (n = 94) CTEPH patients were included in the analysis. A standard 12-lead-ECG was performed before the first BPA session and after completion of treatment. The whole analysed population (n = 94) was divided into the following two groups: derivation cohort (n = 41) and validation cohort (n = 53). The derivation cohort was divided into the following two subgroups: patients with mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) after the completion of therapy n = 21) and patients with mPAP after the completion of therapy ≥ 25 mmHg (n = 20). In the first subgroup, four (R-wave V1 + S-wave V5/V6 > 10.5 mm, QRS-wave axis > 110 degrees, R-wave V1 > S-wave V1, SIQIII pattern) of the six ECG parameters of overload of the right cardiac chambers showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.005). That was followed by a determination of the sensitivity and specificity, positive (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV), and ROC curve (AUC 0.9; 95% CI: 0.792–1.000) for the variable that was a sum of the above four ECG parameters (PH-ECG score). The absence of all of the four ECG parameters at rest (PH-ECG score = 0) well reflected patients with mPAP < 25 mmHg (sensitivity, 100%; specificity, 80%; PPV, 84%; NPV, 100%). In the validation cohort with mPAP < 25 mmHg and PH-ECG score = 0, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV were 86%, 77%, 73%, and 89%, respectively. Conclusions: Resting ECG trace is clinically useful in the monitoring of therapeutical effects of BPA in CTEPH patients.

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