Abstract
PURPOSE: Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction in acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a critical determinant of outcome. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common comorbidity of PE and might also affect RV function. Therefore, we sought to investigate RV dysfunction in PE patients in proportion to the severity of OSA by evaluating the right-to-left ventricular (RV/LV) diameter ratio on computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: 197 PE patients were evaluated for sleep-disordered breathing by portable monitoring and nocturnal polysomnography. RV dilatation was defined as an RV/LV diameter ratio of ⩾ 1.0. RESULTS: RV dilatation was significantly more frequent in OSA patients compared to study participants without OSA (66.4% vs 49.1%, P = .036). Elevated troponin I values, indicating myocardial injury due to acute, PE-related RV strain, were significantly more frequent in OSA patients with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ⩾ 15/h compared to those with an AHI < 15/h (62.1% vs 45.8%, P = .035). However, RV dysfunction documented by the RV/LV diameter ratio on CTPA was not significantly associated with the severity of OSA in multivariable regression analysis. CONCLUSION: Patients with moderate or severe OSA might compensate acute, PE-related RV strain better, as they are adapted to repetitive right heart pressure overloads during sleep.