Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesDiagnostic or prognostic study
Prognostic value of exercise-induced pulmonary congestion by lung ultrasound in patients with heart failure
- Prognostic study of exercise-induced B-lines by lung ultrasound
- symptom-limited exercise echocardiography using a bicycle ergometer
- performed at the time of discharge
- 2-site simplified scan
Authors' conclusion
Exercise-induced B-lines are associated with cardiac death or hospitalization for HF in patients with HF. B-lines at peak workload may identify risk stratification of HF.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with heart failure (HF) admitted to Okayama University Hospital between February 2021 to June 2024patients with HF enrolled
- Participants
- 124 patients
- Comparison
- B-lines ≥7 at peak workload vs B-lines <7 at peak workload
Performance
As reported in the abstract
Total number of B-lines · at rest and at the peak workload of the average 40 W
At rest
1.9 ± 2.1
At peak workload (significantly increased)
5.4 ± 3.5
Further findings
| Outcome | P value |
|---|---|
| Cardiac death or hospitalization for HF · follow-up period of 25 months · event-free survival significantly worse with B-lines ≥7 | P = 0.002 |
- Cardiac death or hospitalization for HF — Patients with cardiac events
- 26
Cardiac death or hospitalization for HF · follow-up period of 25 months
- B-lines ≥7 at peak workload independently related to cardiac events
ROC cut-off of exercise-induced B-lines ≥7 at peak workload for cardiac events
- sensitivity
- 50%
- specificity
- 79%
Original publication
Prognostic value of exercise-induced pulmonary congestion by lung ultrasound in patients with heart failure. ESC Heart Fail. Published 8 January 2026. doi:10.1093/eschf/xvaf025
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it