Cardiac evaluation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients by ECHO and its correlation with different grades of severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

Background: COPD is proven to be a multisystem disorder among which cardiac manifestation are most common. Echocardiography provides a rapid, non-invasive, portable, and accurate method to evaluate the cardiac changes. The aim of this study was to assess the cardiac changes secondary to COPD by echocardiography and to find out the correlation between echocardiographic findings and different grades of severity of COPD.Methods: A total 50 of patients of COPD were selected and staged by spirometry and evaluated by echocardiography.Results: The numbers of patients with mild, moderate, severe and very severe COPD in our study were 4%, 28%, 58%, and 10%, respectively. On echocardiographic evaluation of COPD, 24% cases had normal echocardiographic parameters. Pulmonary hypertension was observed in 35/50 (70%) cases in which prevalence of mild, moderate, and severe PH were 0%, 50%, 79.3%, and 100%, respectively. Right ventricle was enlarged in ECHO in 46% of patients. Right atrium was enlarged in ECHO in 14% of patients. Measurable tricuspid regurgitation (TR) was observed in 72% cases. Conclusions: Prevalence of cardiac dysfunction increases as the severity of COPD increases. It is recommended that echocardiography should be done early in all cases of COPD to diagnose the cardiac complications of COPD, so that early interventions can be undertaken in order to improve quality of life and decrease mortality and morbidity in COPD patients.