Incremental Value of Deformation Imaging and Hemodynamics Following Heart Transplantation: Insights From Graft Function Profiling.

Objectives: This study investigated to define graft dysfunction and to determine its incremental association with long-term outcome after heart transplantation (HT).

Background: Although graft failure is an established cause of late mortality after HT, few studies have analyzed the prognostic value of graft dysfunction at 1- and 5-year follow-up of HT.

Methods: Patients who underwent HT and completed their first annual evaluation with right heart catheterization and echocardiography at Stanford University between January 1999 and December 2011 were included in the study.

Relationship between echocardiographic and magnetic resonance derived measures of right ventricular size and function in patients with pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Transthoracic echocardiographic (TTE) imaging is the mainstay of clinical practice for evaluating right ventricular (RV) size and function, but its accuracy in patients with pulmonary hypertension has not been well validated.

Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and TTE images were retrospectively reviewed in 40 consecutive patients with pulmonary hypertension. RV and left ventricular volumes and ejection fractions were calculated using MRI.