Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan-Mar;31(1):6-10.
doi: 10.4103/jcecho.jcecho_103_20. Epub 2021 May 21.

Assessment of Pulmonary Arterial Hemodynamic and Vascular Changes by Pulmonary Pulse Transit Time in Patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

Mehmet Akif Erdol  1 , Burak Acar  2 , Ahmet Goktug Ertem  1 , Mustafa Karanfil  1 , Çağrı Yayla  1 , Koray Demırtas  1 , Pelin Aladağ  2 , Meliha Çağla Sönmezer  3 , Esra Kaya Kiliç  4 , Çiğdem Ataman Hatipoğlu  4 , Fatma Sebnem Erdinc  4 , Necla Tulek  5 , Adnan Burak Akcay  1
Affiliations

Assessment of Pulmonary Arterial Hemodynamic and Vascular Changes by Pulmonary Pulse Transit Time in Patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

Mehmet Akif Erdol et al. J Cardiovasc Echogr. 2021 Jan-Mar.

Abstract

Introduction: Pulmonary arterial hypertension and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a well-known association. Pulmonary pulse transit time (pPTT) is a recent echocardiographic marker that might be used for evaluation of pulmonary arterial stiffness (PAS) in patients with HIV infection. We aimed to investigate whether pPTT elevated in patients with HIV infection compared to healthy controls and its association with echocardiographic indices of right ventricular functions.

Materials and methods: Fifty HIV (+) patients from infectious disease outpatient clinics and fifty age- and sex-matched HIV (-) healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. pPTT was measured from pulmonary vein flow velocity as the time interval between the R-wave in the electrocardiography and corresponding peak late systolic was then calculated as the mean from two separate pw-Doppler measurements.

Results: pPTT, tricuspid annular peak systolic excursion (TAPSE) and right ventricle fractional area change (FAC) were significantly lower in patients with HIV than control patients (177.1 ± 34.9 vs. 215.7 ± 35.7 msn, P < 0.001; 2.33 ± 0.28 vs. 2.19 ± 0.22, P = 0.039; 45 [4.25] vs. 41.1 [4.0], P = 0.032, respectively). pPTT was positively correlated with FAC, TAPSE and cluster of differentiation 4 count (r = 0.210; P = 0.036, r = 0.256; P = 0.041, r = 0.304; P = 0.044, respectively).

Conclusion: Our study showed that pPTT, TAPSE, and right ventricle FAC levels were lower in patients with HIV infection. pPTT is an important predictor in patients with HIV expected to develop pulmonary vascular pathology.

Keywords: Echocardiography; HIV infection; pulmonary hypertension; pulmonary pulse transit time.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
pPTT was defined as the time interval between the R-wave in the electrocardiogram (ECG) and corresponding peak late systolic pulmonary vein flow velocity (R PVs2 interval)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Araújo I, Enjuanes-Grau C, Lopez-Guarch CJ, Narankiewicz D, Ruiz-Cano MJ, Velazquez-Martin T, et al. Pulmonary arterial hypertension related to human immunodeficiency virus infection: A case series. World J Cardiol. 2014;6:495–501. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Park JH, Kusunose K, Kwon DH, Park MM, Erzurum SC, Thomas JD, et al. Relationship between right ventricular longitudinal strain, invasive hemodynamics, and functional assessment in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Korean Circ J. 2015;45:398–407. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alp S, Schlottmann R, Bauer TT, Schmidt WE, Bastian A. Long-time survival with HIV-related pulmonary arterial hypertension: A case report. AIDS. 2003;17:1714–5. - PubMed
    1. Schwarze-Zander C, Pabst S, Hammerstingl C, Ohlig J, Wasmuth JC, Boesecke C, et al. Pulmonary hypertension in HIV infection: A prospective echocardiographic study. HIV Med. 2015;16:578–82. - PubMed
    1. Rasoulinejad M, Moradmand Badie S, Salehi MR, Seyed Alinaghi SA, Dehghan Manshadi SA, Zakerzadeh N, et al. Echocardiographic assessment of systolic pulmonary arterial pressure in HIV-positive patients. Acta Med Iran. 2014;52:827–30. - PubMed