Elevated pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, higher blood pressure, and lower cardiac index in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia

Cathereine M. Avitable, Xuemei Zhang, Steve Ampah, Yan Wang, Devon Ash, Kathleen Nilan, Jennifer E. Tingo, David B. Frank, Erik A. Jensen, Krithika Lingappan, Kathleen A. Gibbs
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
United States

Internation Journal of Cardiology
Int J Cardiol 2024;
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2024.132246

Abstract
Background: Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction indicated by elevated pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (ePCWP) may worsen cardiorespiratory status in bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), but the scope of ePCWP by cardiac catheterization is not well described.
Methods: This single-center retrospective cohort study included infants with BPD without congenital heart disease, significant intracardiac shunts, or pulmonary vein stenosis who underwent cardiac catheterization from 2010 to 2021. ePCWP was defined as >10 mmHg. Quantitative measures of ventricular systolic and diastolic function were performed on existing echocardiograms. Patients with and without ePCWP were compared using the Chi-squared or Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. Associations between catheterization hemodynamics and echocardiographic parameters were assessed by simple linear regression.
Results: Seventy-one infants (93% Grade 2 or 3 BPD) met inclusion criteria, and 30 (42%) had ePCWP. Patients with ePCWP were older at catheterization (6.7 vs. 4.5 months, p < 0.001), more commonly underwent tracheostomy (66.7% vs. 29.3%, p = 0.003), and had higher mean systemic blood pressure [64.5 (56.0, 75.0) vs. 47.0 (43.0, 55.0) mm Hg, p < 0.001], higher systemic vascular resistance [11.9 (10.4, 15.6) vs. 8.7 (6.7, 11.2) WU*m2, p < 0.001), and lower cardiac index [3.9 (3.8, 4.9) vs. 4.7 (4.0, 6.3) L/min/m2, p = 0.03] at catheterization. Mean pulmonary artery pressure, pulmonary vascular resistance, and mortality were similar between the groups. Echocardiographic indices of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction did not correlate with PCWP.
Conclusions: ePCWP was common in infants with severe BPD who underwent cardiac catheterization in this cohort. The association between ePCWP and higher systemic blood pressure supports further study of afterload reduction in this population.

Category
Class III. Pulmonary Hypertension Associated with Lung Disease
Class II. Pulmonary Hypertension Associated with Left Ventricular Systolic or Diastolic Dysfunction
Diagnostic Testing for Pulmonary Vascular Disease. Non-invasive Testing
Diagnostic Testing for Pulmonary Vascular Disease. Invasive Testing

Age Focus: Pediatric Pulmonary Vascular Disease

Fresh or Filed Publication: Fresh (PHresh). Less than 1-2 years since publication

Article Access
Free PDF File or Full Text Article Available Through PubMed or DOI: No

Scroll to Top