Assessment of pulmonary artery stiffness and right ventricular functions in smoking individuals WİTH 2d ECO

Introduction: Smoking is one of preventable reasons of mortality and morbidity. There are not enough studies on the effects of smoking on the right heart. The main reason is that it is hard to monitor the right heart located behind the sternum. Our study aims at demonstrating the increase in pulmonary artery stiffness and the start of impairment in right ventricular functions in smoking patients. Material and Method: The study population was comprised of smoking and nonsmoking patients who applied to İnönü University Turgut Özal Medical Center Cardiology polyclinic between January 2016 and May 2016 and who did not have additional medical problems, selected randomly. Individuals aged between 18-65, who did not have any systemic disease in anamnesis, did not have any pathological finding determined in examination and tests at the cardiology polyclinic, still were a chronic smoker and never smoked for an entire lifetime. Echocardiographic findings of the patients were measured with 2D eco. Findings: The mean age and mean VKI did not demonstrate significant difference in smoking and nonsmoking patients. The mean RDW percentage, mean lymphocyte level and mean monocyte level were higher in smoking patients than nonsmoking patients. The mean Neutrophile/Lymphocyte (NLO) rate and mean Platelet/Lymphocyte (PLO) rate were lower in smoking patients. In smoking patients, compared to nonsmokers, the mean right ventricular end diastolic diameter, mean MPI, mean PAS and mean sPAB levels were significantly higher and the mean TAPSE and mean PAcT were lower. Smoking was identified to be the independent predictor which increased MPI, sPAB and PAS levels and which decreased TAPSE and PAcT levels. Conclusion: It is demonstrated in the literature that smoking is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Identification of smoking as an independent predictor in impairment of the right ventricular functions and development of pulmonary artery stiffness demonstrated prevention of smoking is such an important factor. Key words: Smoking, Right Ventricle, Pulmonary Artery Stiffness, MPI, PAB, TAPSE