title: Detection of early cardiac dysfunction in patients with Beta thalassemia by tissue Doppler echocardiography.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In this study we tried to evaluate the prognostic significance of several echocardiographic parameters on the occurrence of heart failure or arrhythmias in patients with beta thalassemia.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated possible differences in myocardial function between a population of 37 asymptomatic patients with beta thalassemia and 25 age-matched healthy controls, all of whom underwent an echocardiographic study, including tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), moreover plasmatic levels of N-terminal pro-BNP (NT-pro BNP) were measured in all patients. We followed the patients for 22 ± 8 months to evaluate adverse cardiac events.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Conventional echocardiographic parameters of left ventricle were comparable in both groups. Whereas TDI peak systolic velocity (Sm) and diastolic parameter (E/Em ratio) were significantly abnormal in patients with thalassemia. Moreover eleven adverse cardiac events were observed during follow-up. Baseline systolic velocity (Sm) <7.9 cm/s was significantly associated with cardiac complications (P < 0.05). We also demonstrated that systolic velocity is inversely related to NT-proBNP plasmatic levels (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study suggests that mitral annular systolic velocity <7.9 cm/s is associated to the onset of adverse cardiac events.
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department Pediatric Department, Azienda Ospedaliera Villa Sofia Palermo, Italy. marcellomarci@katamail.com
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marcí
authors.forename: Lorella
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pitrolo
authors.forename: Carmela
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lo Pinto
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sanfilippo
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malizia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology*; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*