{"id":5418,"date":"2026-03-06T13:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T11:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/?p=5418"},"modified":"2026-03-06T13:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T11:56:12","slug":"cvja-2025-094","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-094\/","title":{"rendered":"Clinical and echocardiographic characteristics of patients presenting with pulmonary hypertension due to congenital heart disease"},"content":{"rendered":"    <div id=\"article\">                                                                                                                        \r\n        <div id=\"title-container\">                                                                                                    \r\n        <div id=\"authors-title\">                                                                                                            \r\n        <!--Aurthors under Title-->                                                                                                            \r\n            \r\nMMF Henema, FE Smit, SC Brown, L Botes\r\n<\/div>        \r\n<\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n            <div id=\"copyright\">\r\n        <strong>Copyright:<\/strong> Clinics Cardive Publishing (Pty) Ltd. publisher\r\n        of Cardiovascular Journal of Africa.<\/div>\r\n    <div style=\"clear: both;\"><\/div>                                                                                                                                \r\n        <div id=\"article-abstract\">                                                                                                            \r\n            <div id=\"abstract-title\">                                                                                                        \r\n                    Abstract                                                                                                                \r\n                <\/div>                                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                \r\n            <div id=\"abstract-content\">                                                                                                        \r\n            <!--Content of Abstract Article-->                                                                                                \r\n            <!--<strong>\"Abstract titles\":<\/strong>-->                                                                                        \r\n            <!--<br\/> at the end of each section!!-->                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                                     \r\n\r\n        <strong>Background:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\nThis study aimed to assess patients\u2019 clinical and echocardiographic features in pulmonary hypertension (PH) due to congenital heart disease (CHD).\r\n<br \/>   \r\n\r\n        <strong>Methods:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\nThe main inclusion criterion was a mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) \u2265 25 mmHg measured at right heart catheterisation (RHC). All patients underwent clinical examination, electrocardiography, transthoracic echocardiogram, and a six-minute walk test (6MWT).\r\n<br \/>\r\n                \r\n                <strong>Results:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\nSeventy-five patients with a median age of 9.98 years (IQR 7.97\u201317.1 years) were included. Simple ventricular septal defect (VSD) was the most common lesion. The median mPAP on right catheterisation was 52 mmHg (IQR 49\u201367 mmHg). Right ventricle (RV) dysfunction was observed in all patients, confirmed by prolonged right ventricular MPI, reduced S\u2019, decreased TAPSE, and impaired calculated RV free wall strain. The pulmonary valve annulus was markedly dilated in all patients, evidenced by a median z-score of 4.23. The combination of using the RVSP of more than 50 mmHg plus a pulmonary annulus z-score of more than 3 to predict PVR of more than 3 Wood units m\u00b2 had a high sensitivity of 82.4% but a low specificity of 14.3%.\r\n<br \/>\r\n                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n        <strong>Conclusion:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\nOur patients exhibited dilation on the right side, especially the pulmonary arteries, which could serve as an early warning for PH. An elevated peak RVSP and a dilated pulmonary artery should alert the physician to the possibility of PH. An echocardiogram should only be used as a screening tool for diagnosing pulmonary hypertension.\r\n<br \/>    \r\n                                                                                                        \r\n\r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n            <\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n        <div id=\"keywords\">                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                            \r\n            <strong>Keywords:<\/strong>                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                            \r\n            <strong>Pulmonary hypertension, congenital heart disease, echocardiography, right heart catheterisation<\/strong>                                                                                                                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n    <div id=\"publish-info\">                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                \r\n    <strong>Submitted:<\/strong> December 13, 2024; <!--Month day, year; -->    \r\n    <strong>Accepted:<\/strong> October 28, 2025; <!--Month day, year; -->                                                                            \r\n    <strong>Published:<\/strong> March 6, 2026<!--Month day, year; -->                                                                                                                            <br \/>                                                            \r\n        <em>Cardiovasc J Afr 2025; <b>37<\/b>: 53-61<!--pg no. till pg no. \"eg. 4-7\"--><\/em>\r\n        <br \/><strong>Volume 37, Issue 1<\/strong> <br \/>                                                                            \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n                                                                                                                                        \r\n    <div id=\"DOI\">                                                                                                                    \r\n            DOI Citation Reference: dx.doi.org\/10.5830\/CVJA-2025-094<!--DOI number-->                                                                \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n                \r\n                <div id=\"author-affiliation\">                                                                                                \r\n\r\n\r\n<strong>Department of Cardiology, Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital, Pretoria, South Africa\r\n<\/strong>    <br \/>                                                                            \r\nMMF Henema\r\n\r\n<br \/><br \/>\r\n\r\n<strong>Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein, South Africa\r\n<\/strong>    <br \/>                                                                            \r\nMMF Henema<br \/>\r\nL Botes\r\n\r\n<br \/><br \/>\r\n\r\n<strong>Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa\r\n<\/strong>    <br \/>                                                                            \r\nFE Smit\r\n\r\n<br \/><br \/>\r\n\r\n<strong>Division Paediatric & Congenital Cardiology, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa\r\n<\/strong>    <br \/>                                                                            \r\nSC Brown\r\n\r\n<br \/><br \/>\r\n                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        \r\n\r\n                [soshsc hide=\"logged\"]\r\n                <strong>You need to be <a style=\"color: #c80c44;\" href=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/member-login\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">logged in to view and download<\/a> the full text PDF version. <a style=\"color: #c80c44;\" href=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/register\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Register for a free account?<\/a><\/strong> <br \/><br \/>[\/soshsc]\r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                <\/div>\r\n    \r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This study aimed to assess patients\u2019 clinical and echocardiographic features in pulmonary hypertension (PH) due to congenital heart disease (CHD).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,109],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cardiovascular-topics","category-volume-37-issue-1"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - 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