Assessment of myocardial velocities and global function of the left ventricle in asymptomatic patients with moderate-to-severe chronic aortic regurgitation: a tissue Doppler echocardiographic study.
OBJECTIVE
Asymptomatic patients with chronic aortic regurgitation (AR) have an excellent prognosis in the presence of preserved systolic function. It is a challenge to recognize patients with subclinical myocardial dysfunction in AR. Conventional parameters still have many drawbacks in predicting early left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. Pulsed-wave tissue Doppler imaging (PW-TDI) is a useful noninvasive technique for evaluating global and regional LV systolic function. In this study, we aimed to assess clinical usefulness of TDI in predicting early disturbance of myocardial contractility in asymptomatic patients with significant AR and preserved left ventricular systolic function.
Echocardiograms were obtained in 32 AR patients and 33 healthy subjects. In addition to conventional parameters, regional myocardial velocities, isovolumetric contraction time (mICT), isovolumetric relaxation time (mIRT), and ejection time (mET) of left ventricle were obtained by TDI and modified LV myocardial performance index (MPI) was calculated. In AR, peak systolic velocity (Sm) of septal and anterior mitral annulus, and mean Sm was significantly lower, and LVMPI was significantly higher compared to control group.


CONCLUSIONS
The data obtained by TDI show that LV MPI is lengthened, and systolic myocardial velocities are shortened in patients having chronic AR with normal LV systolic function according to conventional echocardiographic parameters. This suggests that LV long-axis contraction and global LV performance are preciously and noticeably decreased in patients with moderate-to-severe chronic AR despite normal LV ejection fraction.
Sokmen
Gulizar
G
Cardiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Kahramanmaras, Turkey. guliz58@yahoo.com
Sokmen
Abdullah
A
Duzenli
Akif
A
Soylu
Ahmet
A
Ozdemir
Kurtulus
K
D000328:Adult; D001022:Aortic Valve Insufficiency / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors; D018617:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Pulsed / Q000379:methods*; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000175:diagnosis*