Cardiac Amyloidosis Shows Decreased Diastolic Function as Assessed by Echocardiographic Parameterized Diastolic Filling.

Cardiac amyloidosis is a rare but serious condition with poor survival. One of the early findings by echocardiography is impaired diastolic function, even before the development of cardiac symptoms. Early diagnosis is important, permitting initiation of treatment aimed at improving survival. The parameterized diastolic filling (PDF) formalism entails describing the left ventricular filling pattern during early diastole using the mathematical equation for the motion of a damped harmonic oscillator. We hypothesized that echocardiographic PDF analysis could detect differences in diastolic function between patients with amyloidosis and controls. Pulsed-wave Doppler echocardiography of transmitral flow was measured in 13 patients with amyloid heart disease and 13 age- and gender matched controls. E- waves (2 to 3 per subject) were analyzed using in-house developed software. Nine PDF-derived parameters were obtained in addition to conventional echocardiographic parameters of diastolic function. Compared to controls, cardiac amyloidosis patients had a larger left atrial area (23.7 ± 7.5 cm2 vs. 18.5 ± 4.8 cm2, p = 0.04), greater interventricular septum wall thickness (14.4 ± 2.6 mm vs. 9.3 ± 1.3 mm, p < 0.001), lower e' (0.06 ± 0.02 m/s vs. 0.09 ± 0.02 m/s, p < 0.001) and higher E/e' (18.0 ± 12.9 vs. 7.7 ± 1.3, p = 0.001). The PDF parameter peak resistive force was greater in cardiac amyloidosis patients compared to controls (17.9 ± 5.7 mN vs. 13.1 ± 3.1 mN, p = 0.03), and other PDF parameters did not differ. PDF analysis revealed that patients with cardiac amyloidosis had a greater peak resistive force compared to controls, consistent with a greater degree of diastolic dysfunction. PDF analysis may be useful in characterizing diastolic function in amyloid heart disease.

Kinematic analysis of diastolic function using the freely available software Echo E-waves - feasibility and reproducibility.

BACKGROUND: Early diastolic left ventricular (LV) filling can be accurately described using the same methods used in classical mechanics to describe the motion of a loaded spring as it recoils, a validated method also referred to as the Parameterized Diastolic Filling (PDF) formalism. With this method, each E-wave recorded by pulsed wave (PW) Doppler can be mathematically described in terms of three constants: LV stiffness (k), viscoelasticity (c), and load (x 0). Also, additional parameters of physiological and diagnostic interest can be derived. An efficient software application for PDF analysis has not been available. We aim to describe the structure, feasibility, time efficiency and intra-and interobserver variability for use of such a solution, implemented in Echo E-waves, a freely available software application ( www.echoewaves.org ). RESULTS: An application was developed, with the ability to open DICOM files from different vendors, as well as rapid semi-automatic analysis and export of results. E-waves from 20 patients were analyzed by two investigators. Analysis time for a median of 34 (interquartile range (IQR) 29-42) E-waves per patient (representing 63 %, IQR 56-79 % of the recorded E-waves per patient) was 4.3 min (IQR 4.0-4.6 min). Intra-and intraobserver variability was good or excellent for 12 out of 14 parameters (coefficient of variation 2.5-18.7 %, intraclass correlation coefficient 0.80-0.99). CONCLUSION: Kinematic analysis of diastolic function using the PDF method for Doppler echocardiography implemented in freely available semiautomatic software is highly feasible, time efficient, and has good to excellent intra-and interobserver variability.