Right Ventricular Functional Reserve in Early-Stage Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis : An Exercise Two-Dimensional Speckle Tracking Doppler Echocardiography Study
BACKGROUND: The most important determinant of long-term survival in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is the right ventricular (RV) adaptation to the increased pulmonary vascular resistance. Our aim was to explore RV contractile reserve during stress echocardiography in early-stage IPF.METHODS: Fifty early-stage patients with IPF and 50 healthy control patients underwent rest and stress