Clinical Characteristics of Patients Undergoing Right Heart Catheterizations in Community Hospitals.

Background Recognition of precapillary pulmonary hypertension (PH) has significant implications for patient management. However, the low a priori chance to find this rare condition in community hospitals may create a barrier against performing a right heart catheterization (RHC). This could result in misclassification of PH and delayed diagnosis/treatment of precapillary PH.

Noninvasive Prediction of Elevated Wedge Pressure in Pulmonary Hypertension Patients Without Clear Signs of Left-Sided Heart Disease: External Validation of the OPTICS Risk Score.

Background Although most newly presenting patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) have elevated pulmonary artery wedge pressure, identification of so-called postcapillary PH can be challenging. A noninvasive tool predicting elevated pulmonary artery wedge pressure in patients with incident PH may help avoid unnecessary invasive diagnostic procedures. Methods and Results A combination of clinical data, ECG, and echocardiographic parameters was used to refine a previously developed left heart failure risk score in a retrospective cohort of pre- and postcapillary PH patients.