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. 2024 Apr 1;16(4):e57410.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.57410. eCollection 2024 Apr.

Echocardiographic Assessment of Right Ventricular Function in Patients With Liver Cirrhosis

Augustine A Enenche  1   2 , Anthony G Kweki  3 , Henry O Aiwuyo  4 , Anna Nevolina  4 , Oluwasegun M Akinti  4 , Jamal C Perry  5 , Yonael Ayinalem  4 , John O Osarenkhoe  6 , Emmanuel Ukenenye  4 , Charles O Poluyi  4 , Solomon Danbauchi Sulei  1
Affiliations

Echocardiographic Assessment of Right Ventricular Function in Patients With Liver Cirrhosis

Augustine A Enenche et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Background: In patients with chronic liver disease, the common endpoint of its course is liver cirrhosis which is a cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. These abnormalities in the cardiovascular system, especially the heart, can be detected by echocardiography. Identifying and acting on these abnormalities can have an impact on their management thereby reducing morbidity and mortality of patients with liver cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of right ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction in liver cirrhosis patients.

Methods and materials: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among adult patients of the gastroenterology unit (ward and clinic) diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. A total of 243 patients were recruited and 210 were evaluated for this study. This study was carried out over one year. Cardiology studies, including electrocardiography and echocardiography, were conducted on patients to assess right ventricular function.

Results: Among the participants, 44.8% had right ventricular hypertrophy and 3.8% had right ventricular dilatation. Using Tricuspid Annular Plane Systolic Excursion (TAPSE), 17.1% were found to have right ventricular systolic dysfunction and 51.4% had systolic dysfunction using FAC. Diastolic dysfunction was found in 61% of the participants and grade 2 diastolic dysfunction was the commonest.

Conclusion: From this study, a high prevalence of right ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction was recorded among patients with liver cirrhosis.

Keywords: cardiovascular complications; diastolic dysfunction; echocardiography; liver cirrhosis; right ventricle; systolic dysfunction.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Gender distribution of study participants
Data presented as Percentage (%)
Figure 2
Figure 2. Heart sounds among study participants
PSM: pan-systolic murmur
Figure 3
Figure 3. Prevalence of right ventricular systolic dysfunction in patients with liver cirrhosis
Data presented as Percentage (%) Blue: Patients with systolic dysfunction; Red: Patients with normal systolic function TAPSE: Tricuspid Annular Plane Systolic Excursion; FAC: fractional area change
Figure 4
Figure 4. Prevalence of right ventricular diastolic dysfunction in patients with liver cirrhosis
Data presented as Percentage (%)
Figure 5
Figure 5. Prevalence of diastolic dysfunction and the various grades
Data presented as Percentage (%)
Figure 6
Figure 6. Scatter plot of FibroScan score against FAC
Correlation coefficient (r) = 0.084;  p-value = 0.263 FAC: fractional area change
Figure 7
Figure 7. Scatter plot of FibroScan score against TAPSE
Correlation coefficient (r) = -0.011, p-value = 0.882 TAPSE: Tricuspid Annular Plane Systolic Excursion
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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