An Italian study examined whether echocardiographic patterns of right heart changes could improve risk prediction in pulmonary arterial hypertension patients beyond current tools. Researchers defined four phenotypes based on right ventricular size and function, then followed patients for nearly 4 years. They found that these echo-based classifications provided additional prognostic information independent of existing risk scores—particularly identifying patients with worse outcomes (phenotype 4: severe dilation + poor coupling) and better outcomes (phenotype 1: mild dilation + preserved coupling) within each risk category.
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Citation
Stefano Ghio, Roberto Badagliacca, Michele D’Alto, Mauro Acquaro, Pietro Ameri, Paola Argiento, Natale Daniele Brunetti, Gavino Casu, Nadia Cedrone, Marco Confalonieri, Marco Corda, Michele Correale, Carlo D’Agostino, Elisabetta De Tommasi, Domenico Filomena, Giuseppe Galgano, Alessandra Greco, Massimo Grimaldi, Carlo Lombardi, Rosalinda Madonna, Giovanna Manzi, Valentina Mercurio, Massimiliano Mulè, Giuseppe Paciocco, Silvia Papa, Tommaso Recchioni, Antonella Romaniello, Emanuele Romeo, Laura Scelsi, Davide Stolfo, Marco Vatrano, Patrizio Vitulo, Carmine Dario Vizza, on behalf of the Italian Pulmonary Hypertension NETwork (IPHNET), Pulmonary arterial hypertension: right ventricular phenotyping to improve risk assessment at follow-up, European Heart Journal, 2026;, ehag023, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehag023