Introduction
Tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is a prevalent echocardiographic finding1,2, mostly considered as a benign finding and
untreated unless associated with severe or major comorbidity such as
significant pulmonary hypertension, right or left ventricular
dysfunction.
The clinical impact of TR is still under investigation due to variation
in the results of previous studies 3,4. This variation
was mainly associated with the heterogenous and numerous comorbidities
associated with TR that influenced clinical outcomes, such as low left
ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF)5, right
ventricular (RV)6 dilation and dysfunction, and
pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) 7, thus,
leading to studies that tried to isolate TR from potential confounders.
Recent studies had demonstrated association between severe isolated TR
and excess mortality and morbidity in various patient populations2,6,8, but lesser degrees of TR were associated as
well with poor prognosis, especially in men 9.
Nonetheless, current management guidelines of TR patients are ambiguous
and most often consider interventional therapy only at the time of
mitral or aortic valve surgery 5.
To date, no study evaluated the prevalence and possible prognostic
implication of TR in ST segment elevation (STEMI) patients. In the
present study, we investigated the clinical profile, in-hospital
outcomes, and long-term mortality associated with the presence of TR in
STEMI patients treated
with primary
percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).