Interventricular systolic asynchrony predicts prognosis in patients with systemic sclerosis-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Objective Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a serious complication of systemic sclerosis (SSc) with high mortality. Interventricular systolic asynchrony (IVSA) is observed in PAH patients, but the effect of IVSA and its association with long-term mortality and clinical events in SSc-associated PAH are unclear. This study aimed to investigate the impact of IVSA on the prognosis of SSc-associated PAH. Methods Between March 2010 and July 2018, a total of 60 consecutive patients with SSc-associated PAH were enrolled. The end point was a composite of all-cause mortality and clinical worsening. Asynchrony was assessed by colour-coded tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) echocardiography. The myocardial sustained systole curves (Sm) of the basal portion of the right ventricular (RV) free wall and left ventricular (LV) lateral wall were obtained. IVSA was defined as the time difference from the onset of the QRS complex to the end of Sm between LV and RV. Results Patients with greater IVSA time differences presented with advanced pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). The IVSA time difference was an independent predictive factor (HR = 1.018, 95% CI 1.005-1.031, p = 0.005) for the composite end point and was significantly associated with PVR (r = 0.399, R2=0.092, p = 0.002). Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that patients with greater IVSA had worse prognoses (log-rank p = 0.001). Conclusion In conclusion, IVSA analyzed by colour-coded TDI echocardiography provided added value as a noninvasive, easy-to-use approach for assessing the prognosis of patients with SSc-associated PAH. A significant IVSA time difference identifies the subgroup of patients at high risk of a poor prognosis.