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Abstract Pulmonary hypertension is a serious clinical condition which is known to be progressive and to result in significant damage to the right heart function. Pulmonary hypertension which imposes pressure overload on the right ventricle, through elevated pulmonary artery pressure can cause premature death in severe cases (106) .It is known that long standing and severe Pulmonary hypertension can result in intractable and potentially irreversible right ventricle damage, even after lung transplantation (107). Off-line analysis of the RV apical 4-chamber view by speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) for 2D strain and strain rate measurements was made using the commercially available EchoPac analysis system (GE, version 8.0.1, US). The software is based on real time tracking of natural acoustic markers, present in the ultrasound tissue images, which allows the derivation of 2D strain and strain rate (frame rate = 50 - 54 f/s) by comparing displacement of speckles in relation to one another throughout the cardiac cycle. The inflow compartment of the RV consists of the lateral free wall and septum. The endocardial border of the RV inflow and outflow tract were manually traced and tracked by the software in order to determine the RV longitudinal displacement measured. Strain and strain rate values were measured to RV free wall, and septal walls. Results of the current study showed that: Demographic and clinical data: · Age: The mean age for group I (Pulmonary arterial hypertension) was 57.05 ± 10.94 years , and the mean age for group II (control group) was 43.65 ± 9.49 years.There was significant difference between the 2 groups (I &II) as regard age(p-value <0.001). · clinical data: There was significant difference between the two groups as regard DM and HTN (p- value< 0.001) . Tricuspid valve Regurge Gradient, Pulmonary artery systolic pressure and Tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion: Group I (cases) have significant increaseaed TR gradient and PASP and depressed TAPSE compared to group II (control). RV STRAIN Average right ventricular (septal and lateral walls) peak longitudinal systolic strain (S%) were significantly depressed in Correlation between PASP with TAPSE,RV Strain (septal & lateral walls) and RV Strain Rate in Systole, Early and late diastole (septum &lateral wall): There was significant negative correlation between pulmonary artery systolic pressure and Tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion , average RV Strain and strain rate [septal and lateral walls] (TAPSE ,RV Strain and strain rate are depressed with increasing PASP). |