Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by progressive pulmonary vascular resistance, affecting several arteries and arterioles. These changes are associated with increased right ventricular afterload and remodeling, characterized by severe hypertrophy, initially adaptive and derived from vascular pressure gradient. , Afterward, these alterations are accompanied by right ventricular dilation and impaired contractile performance, resulting in reduced ejection fraction and ventricular failure. , Clinically, right ventricular size and function parameters alterations have a recognized association with bad prognosis in pulmonary arterial […]

Left ventricular systolic function evaluation has always been one of the main attributions of echocardiography. The degree of ventricular systolic dysfunction is an important predictor of outcome for a large number of diseases, including ischemic heart disease, cardiomyopathy, valvular heart disease, and congenital heart disease. In this area, the ejection fraction has been sovereign for many decades, but despite being a parameter that can, in most cases, inform the real state of global ventricular function, in many situations it may […]

Heart failure (HF) is a complex syndrome that has a poor prognosis and a stigma of high mortality. The current prevalence estimated in the United States is six million cases, with a predicted incidence of another two million patients until 2030. Brazil, specifically, had more than 26 thousand deaths by HF in 2012 and approximately 230 thousand hospitalizations attributed to this disease. The main HF symptoms include progressive dyspnea, fatigue, exercise intolerance, and signs of volume overload, reducing the functional […]