Left ventricular Tei index: comparison between flow and tissue Doppler analyses.
BACKGROUND
It is still unknown whether a correlation exists between left ventricular Tei index obtained by tissue Doppler imaging and that determined by flow Doppler waveforms. This study was conducted to evaluate their relationship and to assess the positional effect on them.


METHODS
Twenty-six healthy subjects and 25 patients with essential hypertension were included. On the tissue Doppler images, the time interval from the end to the onset of the mitral annular velocity pattern during diastole and the duration of the S-wave were used to calculate tissue Doppler Tei index.


RESULTS
The tissue Doppler Tei index correlated with the flow Doppler Tei index at sitting position (r = 0.406, P = 0.003), but not at left lateral decubitus position. The limits of agreement for the Tei index measured by both methods were -0.26 to 0.62 at left lateral decubitus position and -0.09 to 0.55 at sitting position. Preload reduction associated with sitting position with dangling feet raised the Tei index both in the healthy controls [0.54 (0.14) vs 0.42 (0.12), P < 0.001] and in the hypertensives [0.53 (0.15) vs 0.46 (0.12), P = 0.005]. There was a similar positional effect on the tissue Doppler Tei index in the control subjects [0.75 (0.12) vs 0.53 (0.10), P < 0.001].


CONCLUSIONS
Tissue Doppler Tei index does not seem to be a suitable substitute for flow Doppler Tei index. Flow Doppler Tei index is preload dependent and the loading status should be taken into consideration at the application of Tei index to the evaluation of myocardial performance.
Voon
Wen-Chol
WC
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan, Republic of China. wcvoon@giga.net.tw
Su
Ho-Ming
HM
Yen
Hsueh-Wei
HW
Lin
Tsung-Hsien
TH
Lai
Wen-Ter
WT
Sheu
Sheng-Hsiung
SH
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D002306:Cardiac Volume / Q000502:physiology*; D004452:Echocardiography; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D015588:Observer Variation; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology; D013318:Stroke Volume / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*