143 ESTIMATION OF RIGHT ATRIAL PRESSURE BY ULTRASOUND-ASSESSED JUGULAR VEIN DISTENSIBILITY IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC ADVANCED HEART FAILURE


 
 
 In patients with chronic advanced heart failure (HF) signs of congestion are not always evident on clinical examination. We aim to validate the ultrasound (US)-assessed jugular vein distensibility (JVD), as a non-invasive tool to identify patients with normal right atrial pressure (RAP≤7 mmHg).
 
 
 
 In a single-center prospective study, we assessed chronic HF patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF)<50% who underwent a pulmonary artery catheterization in the setting of advanced HF therapies workup. We first identify the JVD threshold (Valsalva/rest ratio of the vein diameter) of 1.6 that allowed the most accurate discrimination between patients with RAP≤7 vs. >7 mmHg (area under the curve [AUC] of 0.74; p<0.0001) in a calibration cohort of 100 patients (mean age 53 years, median LVEF 25%). Based on this JVD threshold, we defined patients with low JVD (≤1.6; n=58; median RAP 8 mmHg) and high JVD (>1.6, n=42; median RAP 4 mmHg). Then, we tested the threshold in 101 patients (validation cohort), where we found comparable results (AUC of 0.82; p<0.0001). The JVD threshold had 0.86 and 0.94 predictive positive values to identify patients with RAP≤7 mmHg in the calibration and validation cohorts. Finally, the low JVD vs. high JVD group had a 42.7% vs. 16.1% incidence of major cardiac events at 2 years (log-rank p=0.006), showing its prognostic value.
 
 
 
 US-assessed JVD is an accurate diagnostic tool to identify advanced HF patients with normal RAP. This tool could be tested in the ambulatory setting to modulate diuretic/vasodilator therapies.
