title: Right ventricular function suffers from reperfusion delay: tissue Doppler study.
abstract: In this study, impact of reperfusion delay on adverse cardiac events and right ventricular (RV) function in patients with acute right ventricular myocardial infarction (RVMI) was assessed. In 70 patients with RVMI, RV function was assessed by M-mode tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) and by pulsed wave tissue Doppler echocardiography (TDE). Right ventricular early (E'(T)) and late diastolic (A'(T)), peak systolic tricuspid annular velocity, (S'(T)) and right ventricular myocardial performance index (RVMPI) were measured. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the time between the onset of symptoms and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA)-group 1 (n = 25), < or =3 hours and group 2 (n = 45), > 3 hours. During 30-day follow-up, we assessed adverse cardiac events like the following: death, cardiogenic shock, need for intra-aortic counterpulsation, temporary transvenous pacing support (PCM), presence of ventricular septal defect (VSD), cardiac tamponade, or free wall rupture.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Group 1 had significantly higher values of E'(T), S'(T), and TAPSE than group 2. RVMPI was significantly elevated in group 2. A total of 13 (18.2%) patients had a cardiac event, 5 patients (7.1%) died. We observed an increase of cardiac events in patients with reperfusion delayed more than 3 hours (P = .056).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TAPSE-derived and TDE-derived right ventricular systolic and early diastolic velocities were less affected in patients with shorter time from pain onset to opening of the occluded right coronary artery (RCA). Presented initial data show that the tissue Doppler technique may be useful for identification of patients with RV infarction with higher rate of adverse cardiac events including death.
authors.affiliation: Second Chair and Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Lodz, Ul. Kniaziewicza 1/5, Lodz, Poland. kidawa@ptkardio.plIn
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kidawa
authors.forename: Jaroslaw D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Kasprzak
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wierzchowski
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krzeminska-Pakula
mesh_terms: D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease; D003971:Diastole; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015425:Myocardial Reperfusion; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011044:Poland; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012421:Rupture; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013599:Systole; D013997:Time Factors; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler; D018497:Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D016278:Ventricular Function, Right