title: Left ventricular mechanics following restrictive mitral annuloplasty for functional mitral regurgitation: two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiographic study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Restrictive mitral annuloplasty (RMA) is widely employed for patients with functional mitral regurgitation (MR). Its improvement of left ventricular (LV) function has been demonstrated by only a gradual increase in LV ejection fraction (EF) in the chronic phase. However, the detailed evaluation of changes in LV function has not been fully elucidated in functional MR patients before and after RMA. Therefore, we performed two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D-STE), which enables accurate evaluation of myocardial deformation and rotation that are undetectable by conventional echocardiography.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 13 patients (mean age 61 ± 10 years) with functional MR associated with cardiomyopathy undergoing RMA. In addition to conventional echocardiographic measurements, 2D-STE was performed to measure peak systolic radial (RS), circumferential (CS), and longitudinal (LS) strains and twist before and 4 ± 2 weeks after surgery. LV twist was defined as the difference between the apical and basal rotations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After RMA, EF and LS remained unchanged, but RS and CS were significantly improved at the mid-LV (RS, 20.6 ± 10.8 vs 24.5 ± 11.6%; CS, -9.6 ± 5.2 vs -12.8 ± 5.6%) and at the apex (RS, 15.0 ± 12.2 vs 18.7 ± 8.6%; CS, -4.4 ± 3.0 vs -7.8 ± 4.8%). RS and CS were unchanged at the base. The apical and basal rotations changed significantly, from 3.5°± 0.7° to 9.2°± 2.1°, and -2.1°± 0.7° to -3.8°± 1.0°, respectively. Consequently, the LV twist increased significantly, from 5.6°± 1.0° to 13.0°± 1.9°.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Radial and circumferential strains and LV twist increased significantly in the early postoperative period in functional MR patients after RMA and concomitant procedures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shudo
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakatani
authors.forename: Taichi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakaguchi
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miyagawa
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Shunsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Yasuharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sakata
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Yoshiki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sawa
mesh_terms: D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058386:Mitral Valve Annuloplasty; D008944:Mitral Valve Insufficiency / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*