Subpulmonary ventricular function and inflammation are related to clinical heart failure in patients with a systemic right ventricle

Background Timely diagnosis of heart failure (HF) in patients with a systemic right ventricle (sRV) is difficult but important since clinical deterioration is fast once HF develops. We aimed to compare echocardiography and biomarker profile between sRV patients with and without HF and patients with a systemic left ventricle diagnosed with HF (sLV-HF). Methods and results Eighty-seven sRV patients and 30 sLV-HF patients underwent echocardiographic evaluation and blood sampling. Compared to sRV patients without HF, sRV-HF patients had more remodeling of the subpulmonary LV (spLV) (internal diameter 3.9 cm [3.3–5.7] vs 3.4 cm [2.9–3.9], P = 0.03, posterior wall 0.93 cm [0.76–1.20] vs 0.71 cm [0.59–0.91], P = 0.006) and lower spLV systolic function: ejection fraction (59 % ± 14 vs 70 % ± 10, P = 0.011), mitral annular plane systolic excursion (1.7 cm ± 0.5 vs 2.1 cm ± 0.4, P = 0.003), fractional area change (47 % [38–58] vs 59 % [51–70], P = 0.002) and lateral strain rate (−1.2/s ± 0.46 vs −1.5/s ± 0.39, P = 0.016). Inflammatory biomarkers were higher in sRV-HF patients compared to those without HF: red cell distribution width (13.3 fL [12.8–14.1] vs 12.6 fL [12.3–13.1], P < 0.001), neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR, 3.7 [2.2–4.9] vs 2.4 [1.9–3.0], P = 0.015), C-reactive protein (CRP, 2.5 mg/dL [1.0–4.2] vs 1.2 mg/dL [0.0–2.0], P = 0.005) and compared to sLV-HF patients (NLR (3.7 [2.2–4.9] vs 2.5 [1.7–3.3], P = 0.044) and CRP (2.5 mg/dL [1.0–4.2] vs 0.85 mg/dL [0.6–2.0], P = 0.006). Conclusion Biventricular echocardiographic evaluation with a focus on the subpulmonary LV together with assessing inflammatory status in sRV patients could help in an earlier detection of HF.