Lapa M, Dias B, Jardim C et al.
University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Circulation 2009;119:1518–23.
Editor’s note: Echocardiography is an important diagnostic tool in the screening of patients suspected of having pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). It allows estimation of PA pressure (PAP), measurement of right ventricular diastolic and systolic function indices, and assessment of flow characteristics in the PA. In this study by Lapa and colleagues, echocardiography examinations were performed to gain further insight into the prevalence of schistosomiasis-related PAH – probably the most common type of PAH. Schistosomiasis is caused by parasitic trematodes of the genus
Schistosoma, and it is estimated that >200 million people worldwide are infected.