Metformin is ubiquitously used in the management of Type II Diabetes Mellitus (DMII). Over the years, our growing knowledge of its therapeutic potential has broadened its use to the treatment of infertility in polycystic ovarian syndrome, gestational diabetes, and even obesity. Recently, it has been suggested as a novel therapy in cardiovascular disease (CVD). Given that CVD is the leading cause of death in patients with DMII, with ~ 75% dying from a cardiovascular event, the intersection of DMII and CVD provides a unique therapeutic target. In particular, pulmonary hypertension (PH) related to CVD (Group II PH) may be an optimal target for metformin therapy. The objective of this review article is to provide an overview of the pathophysiology of PH related to left heart disease (PH-LHD), outline the proposed pathophysiologic mechanism of insulin resistance in heart failure and PH-LHD, and evaluate the role metformin may have in heart failure and PH-LHD.

OBJECTIVE: Biaxial mechanical testing is a common method for elucidation of mechanical properties of excised ventricular myocardium, especially in the context of structural remodeling that accompanies heart disease. Current imaging strategies in biaxial testing are based on optical camera imaging of the tissue surface, thus providing no information about the tissue microstructure and limiting strain measurements to two dimensions. Here, these limitations are overcome by replacing the camera with ultrasound imaging in order to measure both transmural fiber orientation and 3D tissue deformation during biaxial testing. METHODS: Quasi-static biaxial mechanical testing is applied to four samples of excised porcine ventricular myocardium (two left- and two right-ventricular tissues). During testing, a rotational scan of an ultrasound linear array provides data for both backscatter tensor imaging and 3D speckle tracking, from which transmural fiber orientation and tissue deformation are computed, respectively. Ultrasound-derived fiber orientation and tissue strain are validated against histology and camera surface imaging, respectively. DISCUSSION: Ultrasound-derived fiber angle and tissue strain exhibit good accuracy, with root-mean-square errors of 9.9° and 1.2% strain, respectively. Further investigation into the optimization of backscatter tensor imaging is warranted. Replacing the rotational scan of a linear array with volume imaging with a matrix array will improve the technique. CONCLUSION: Ultrasound imaging can replace the optical camera measurement during biaxial mechanical testing of ventricular myocardium in order to accurately provide measurements of transmural fiber orientation and tissue strain. In situ knowledge of transmural fiber structure and tissue deformation can enhance the inverse problem used to determine tissue mechanical properties from biaxial testing.

Backscatter tensor imaging (BTI) is performed on excised porcine right- and left-ventricular myocardium to estimate the transmural myofiber orientation. Calculation of the backscatter spatial coherence employs measured sound speeds of the myocardium and the fluid that separates the tissue from the imaging array to account for effects of refraction during the delay-and-sum beamforming calculation. Compared to the assumption of a homogeneous sound speed in the imaging region, accounting for refraction yields significantly increased average spatial coherence as well as contrast of spatial coherence between the along- and across-fiber directions, thus improving sensitivity of BTI for myofiber orientation estimation.

Goal: Create a semi-automated, graphical, stand-alone application that uses clinically available asynchronous pressure and Doppler velocity captures to rapidly calculate, display, and interpret the pulmonary vascular impedance (PVZ) spectra. Methods: MATLAB-based software was written to analyze PVZ by creating a composite PVZ (cPVZ) spectra comprised of asynchronous screen captures of pulmonary arterial pressure and pulmonary arterial pulsed-wave Doppler velocity waveforms obtained during standard of care procedures. The pressure waveform, Doppler frequency envelopes, and ECG signals were re-digitized via automated border detection. cPVZ of averaged representative beats was calculated in the frequency domain via Fast Fourier Transform, and plotted vs harmonic z. Results: Successful generation of impedance spectra (PVZ(z)), where z is the harmonic, and additional parameters for characteristic impedance (Zc) and stiffness (Zs) were calculated as the mean of PVZ(2-4), and the sum of PVZ (1, 2), respectively. Conclusions: A graphically driven analysis of PVZ, calculated from standard of care right heart catheterization and echocardiography is possible. This system can help characterize both the steady and pulsatile components of right ventricular (RV) afterload in the clinical setting.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a disease resulting in increased right ventricular (RV) afterload and RV remodeling. PAH results in altered RV structure and function at different scales from organ-level hemodynamics to tissue-level biomechanical properties, fiber-level architecture, and cardiomyocyte-level contractility. Biomechanical analysis of RV pathophysiology has drawn significant attention over the past years and recent work has found a close link between RV biomechanics and physiological function. Building upon previously developed techniques, biomechanical studies have employed multi-scale analysis frameworks to investigate the underlying mechanisms of RV remodeling in PAH and effects of potential therapeutic interventions on these mechanisms. In this review, we discuss the current understanding of RV structure and function in PAH, highlighting the findings from recent studies on the biomechanics of RV remodeling at organ, tissue, fiber, and cellular levels. Recent progress in understanding the underlying mechanisms of RV remodeling in PAH, and effects of potential therapeutics, will be highlighted from a biomechanical perspective. The clinical relevance of RV biomechanics in PAH will be discussed, followed by addressing the current knowledge gaps and providing suggested directions for future research.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) imposes substantial pressure overload on the right ventricular free wall (RVFW), leading to myofiber hypertrophy and remodeling of its collagen fiber architecture. The transmural nature of these adaptations and their effects on the macroscopic mechanical behavior of the RVFW remain largely unexplored. In the present work, we extended our constitutive model for RVFW myocardium to investigate the transmural mechanical and structural remodeling post-PAH. Recent murine experimental studies provided us with comprehensive histomorphological and biaxial mechanical data for viable, passive myocardium for normal and post hypertensive cases. Multiple fiber-level remodeling events were found to be localized in the midwall region (40% < depth < 60%): (i) reorientation and alignment of both myo- and collagen fibers towards longitudinal (apex-to-outflow tract) direction, (ii) substantial increase in the rate of the recruitment of collagen fibers with strain, and (iii) a corresponding increase in the mechanical interactions between the collagen and myofibers. These adaptations suggest a denser and more fibrous connective tissue in the midwall region, and led to a substantially stiffer mechanical response along the longitudinal direction in post-PAH tissues. Moreover, using a Laplace-type mechanical equilibrium analysis of the right ventricle to approximate the wall stress state, we estimated that the longitudinal component of stress remained higher in the hypertensive state while the circumferential component approximately maintained homeostasis values. This result was consistent with our observation from the fiber- and tissue-level remodeling that longitudinally oriented collagen fibers, localized in the midwall region, dominated the remodeling process. The findings of this study highlight the need for more integrated cellular-tissue-organ analysis to better understand the remodeling events during PAH and design interventions.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is defined as clinical features of heart failure, ideally with biomarker evidence such as elevated plasma natriuretic peptide levels, in the setting of an ejection fraction (EF) greater than 50% and imaging evidence of diastolic left ventricular dysfunction [1,2]. In the absence of cardiac imaging or invasive hemodynamics, this is a clinical syndrome that is often indistinguishable from heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). HFpEF and HFrEF present with a cadre of comparable signs and symptoms including jugular venous distention, pulmonary rales on auscultation, breathlessness, orthopnea, exercise intolerance, exertional dyspnea, fatigue and peripheral edema. HFpEF accounts for at least half of all diagnoses of heart failure [1,2]. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a common complication of HFpEF that is linked to worse disease morbidity and mortality. In fact, mortality has been linked to increases in the intrinsic pulmonary vascular resistance in the setting of increased left ventricular end diastolic pressure, characterized hemodynamically by rises in the transpulmonary pressure gradient, pulmonary vascular resistance or diastolic pressure gradient. Despite being the most common form of PH, there are no approved therapies for the treatment of PH secondary to HFpEF. This review will summarize the hemodynamic classifications of PH in the setting of HFpEF, mechanisms of disease, the potential contribution of pulmonary vascular disease to poor outcomes in patients with HFpEF, and new approaches to therapy.

Oral treprostinil (TRE) is a prostacylin approved for the management of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Few data exist to guide the use of oral TRE as a replacement for parenteral or inhaled prostacyclins. Therefore, the purpose of this report was to describe our experience with oral TRE to transition patients from parenteral or inhaled TRE. We describe a case series of patients admitted for a 4-day hospital stay to transition from parenteral or inhaled TRE. Appropriate criteria for transition included stable patients with improved symptoms/functional capacity, patients who could not tolerate intravenous prostacyclin due to infection or subcutaneous prostacyclin due to pain, and patient preference for transition. The dosing protocol for transition is described. A total of 9 patients generally representative of a typical PAH demographic and background medical therapy were included. Patients were initiated at either 0.5 or 1 mg 3 times daily and discharged on a median dose of 8 mg 3 times daily. Our protocol resulted in 6 of 9 patients who successfully transitioned at a median follow-up of 47 weeks. Two patients had to return to their previous prostacyclin therapy based on the presence of clinical worsening and adverse events (n = 1) and adverse events alone (n = 1). Another patient discontinued therapy due to plans for hospice care. Oral TRE may serve an important role in prostacyclin transitions in carefully selected, stable patients who receive background oral therapy for PAH.

Right ventricular (RV) remodeling and longitudinal fiber reorientation in the setting of pulmonary hypertension (PH) affects ventricular structure and function, eventually leading to RV failure. Characterizing the kinematics of myocardial fibers helps better understanding the underlying mechanisms of fiber realignment in PH. In the current work, high-frequency ultrasound imaging and structurally-informed finite element (FE) models were employed for an exploratory evaluation of the stretch-induced kinematics of RV fibers. Image-based experimental evaluation of fiber kinematics in porcine myocardium revealed the capability of affine assumptions to effectively approximate myofiber realignment in the RV free wall. The developed imaging framework provides a noninvasive modality to quantify transmural RV myofiber kinematics in large animal models. FE modeling results demonstrated that chronic pressure overload, but not solely an acute rise in pressures, results in kinematic shift of RV fibers towards the longitudinal direction. Additionally, FE simulations suggest a potential protective role for concentric hypertrophy (increased wall thickness) against fiber reorientation, while eccentric hypertrophy (RV dilation) resulted in longitudinal fiber realignment. Our study improves the current understanding of the role of different remodeling events involved in transmural myofiber reorientation in PH. Future experimentations are warranted to test the model-generated hypotheses.