Innovating the Gold Standard: The Emerging Role of Echocardiographic Stress Testing in the Classification, Stratification, and Prognostication in Pulmonary Vascular Disease

The goal of this review is to examine the evolving role of exercise stress echocardiography (ESE) in the diagnosis and management of pulmonary vascular diseases (PVD), particularly pulmonary hypertension (PH). We sought to explore how ESE can assess dynamic cardiopulmonary interactions, distinguish between PH subtypes, evaluate right ventricular (RV) contractile function and reserve, and provide a noninvasive alternative for early detection, risk stratification, and clinical decision-making in patients with unexplained dyspnea and PVD.

Although right heart catheterization (RHC) remains the diagnostic gold standard, ESE has emerged as a promising noninvasive tool to assess dynamic changes in ventricular function, interventricular interactions, cardiopulmonary hemodynamics, and systemic circulation under stress conditions. Beyond traditional ischemic evaluation, ESE has demonstrated potential for identifying underlying causes of dyspnea in populations with rising cardiopulmonary risk factors such as aging, cardiovascular disease, obesity, COPD, and left heart failure. Recent studies highlight the ability of ESE to differentiate PH subtypes and offer prognostic insights. However, important knowledge gaps remain, particularly regarding standardized protocols and interpretation across different PH groups.

Our review affirms that ESE offers a valuable, noninvasive approach for the early identification and risk stratification of PH, complementing or, in selected cases, providing an alternative to invasive hemodynamics. By evaluating dynamic cardiopulmonary interactions and RV reserve, ESE can refine diagnosis, improve clinical management, and potentially guide earlier therapeutic interventions in at-risk patients. Future research should focus on standardizing ESE methodologies, validating noninvasive surrogate measures of hemodynamics, and expanding its role in clinical practice to optimize the care of patients with PVD.