Cumulative Burden of Myocardial Dysfunction in Cardiac Amyloidosis Assessed Using Four-Chamber Cardiac Strain.
The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that prognosis in patients with cardiac amyloidosis is closely coupled with amyloid burden in all four cardiac chambers. The goal was to evaluate longitudinal strain (LS) in each cardiac chamber and to determine whether LS in specific cardiac chambers is preferentially associated with prognosis over conventional two-dimensional echocardiographic parameters in patients with cardiac amyloidosis.



Patients with two phenotypes of left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (cardiac amyloidosis in 55 patients and nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in 40 patients) and 55 healthy subjects were retrospectively enrolled for the simultaneous assessment of LS of all four cardiac chambers in the apical four-chamber view. Patients with cardiac amyloidosis were followed up to record major adverse cardiovascular events, including cardiac death, heart transplantation, nonfatal myocardial infarction, ventricular tachyarrhythmia, and exacerbation of heart failure requiring hospitalization.



LS in each chamber was significantly depressed in patients with both LV hypertrophy phenotypes compared with healthy subjects. Right atrial LS was significantly lower in patients with cardiac amyloidosis than those with nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy after adjusting for LV ejection fraction and LV mass index. During a median follow-up period of 10 months, major adverse cardiovascular events developed in 22 patients with cardiac amyloidosis. Four-chamber LS were significantly associated with major adverse cardiovascular events, with incremental value over traditional echocardiographic parameters.



Cardiac amyloidosis involves all cardiac chambers, and thus, chamber-specific strain analysis may be useful to assess the total cumulative burden of cardiac dysfunction.
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Kitakyushu, Japan; Second Department of Internal Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Kitakyushu, Japan.
Yuichiro
Y
Kado
Department of Medicine and Biological Science, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.
Masaru
M
Obokata
Second Department of Internal Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Kitakyushu, Japan.
Yasufumi
Y
Nagata
Cardiovascular Division, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
Tomoko
T
Ishizu
Noninvasive Cardiac Imaging Laboratory, University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois.
Karima
K
Addetia
Cardiovascular Division, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
Kazutaka
K
Aonuma
Department of Laboratory and Transfusion Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Kitakyushu, Japan.
Masahiko
M
Kurabayashi
Noninvasive Cardiac Imaging Laboratory, University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois.
Roberto M
RM
Lang
Department of Laboratory and Transfusion Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Kitakyushu, Japan. Electronic address: takeuchi@med.uoeh-u.ac.jp.
Masaaki
M
Takeuchi
Second Department of Internal Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Kitakyushu, Japan.
Yutaka
Y
Otsuji
D000368:Aged; D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013318:Stroke Volume
Amyloidosis; Four-chamber; Prognosis; Speckle-tracking; Strain