Left Ventricular Regional Systolic Function in Patient with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy by Quantitative Tissue Velocity Imaging

The left ventricular regional systolic functions in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy （HCM） were assessed by using quantitative tissue velocity imaging （QTVI）. Left ventricular （LV） regional myocardial velocity along long- and short-axis in 31 HCM patients and 20 healthy subjects were analyzed by QTVI, and the regional myocardial systolic peak velocities （MVS） were measured. Mean MVS at each level including mitral annular, basal, middle and apical segments were calculated. The ratio of MVS along long-axis to that along short-axis （Ri） at basal and middle segments of the LV posterior wall and ventricular septum were calculated. The results showed that mean MVS was slower at each level including mitral annular, basal, middle and apical segments in the HCM patients than that in the healthy subjects （P〈0.01）. There were no significant differences in mean MVS between obstructive and non-obstructive groups in HCM patients. MVS of all regional myocardial segments along long-axis in the HCM patients were significantly slower than that in the healthy subjects （P〈0.05）, but there was no significant difference in MVS of all regional myocardial segments along long-axis between hypertrophied and non-hypertrophied group in the HCM patients. Ri was significantly lower in the HCM patients than that in the healthy subjects. The LV regional myocardial contractility along long-axis was impaired not only in the hypertrophied wall but also in the non-hypertrophied one in patients with HCM, suggesting that QTVI can assess accurately LV regional systolic function in patient with HCM and provides a novel means for an early diagnosis before and independent of hypertrophy.

Early Detection of Regional and Global Left Ventricular Myocardial Function Using Strain and Strain-rate Imaging in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome

Background：Strain and strain-rate imaging （SRI） have been found clinically useful in the assessment of cardiac systolic and diastolic function as well as providing new insights in deciphering cardiac physiology and mechanics in cardiomyopathies,and identifying early subclinical changes in various pathologies.The aim of this study was to evaluate the regional and global left ventricular （LV） myocardial function in metabolic syndrome （MS） with SRI so that we can provide more myocardial small lesions in patients with MS,which is robust and reliable basis for early detection of LV function.Methods：Thirty-nine adults with MS were enrolled in the study.There was a control group of 39 healthy adults.In addition to classic echocardiographic assessment of LV global functional changes,SRI was used to evaluate regional and global LV function.Including：Peak systolic strain （S）,peak systolic strain-rate （SR-s）,peak diastolic strain-rate （SR-e）.Results：There were no statistically significant differences between MS and controls in all traditional parameters of LV systolic function.On the other hand,significant differences were observed between MS and the control group in most of the parameters of S,SR-s,SR-e in regional LV function.Multiple stepwise regression analyses revealed that S and SR significantly were negatively correlated with blood pressure,waist circumference,fasting plasma glucose,uric acid,suggesting that risk factories were relevant to regional systolic dysfunction.Conclusion：In MS with normal LV ejection fraction,there was regional myocardial dysfunction,risk factors contributed to the impairment of systolic and diastolic function of the regional myocardium.Assessment of myocardial function using SRI could be more accurate in MS patient evaluation than conventional echocardiography alone.