The three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography in distinguishing between ischaemic and non-ischaemic aetiology of heart failure.

AIMS: The aim of this pilot study was to compare selected three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (3D STE) parameters in patients with ischaemic and non-ischaemic aetiology of heart failure (HF) and to identify indices that can differentiate the two pathologies. METHODS AND RESULTS: Forty patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 40% were included to the study: 20 patients (age 63 ± 9.0 years, LVEF 29.0 ± 11.3%) with ischaemic cardiomyopathy and 20 patients (age 64.0 ± 11.0 years, LVEF 27.3 ± 7.5%) with non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy. All patients underwent two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) transthoracic echocardiography. Standard echocardiographic parameters, global longitudinal strain, and rotational parameters of left ventricle (LV) were assessed using 3D speckle tracking (3D STE). There were no differences in standard and STE parameters between the two groups. Among rotational parameters, the LV apical rotation (4.9 ± 3.5° vs. 2.3 ± 2.4°, P = 0.0022) was significantly higher in patients with ischaemic HF. Among all echocardiographic parameters, a cut-off value of 3.28° (area under the curve 0.78; 95% confidence interval, 0.62 to 0.93) was able to distinguish the ischaemic and non-ischaemic aetiology of HF with a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 75%. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study that compares 3D STE parameters between patients with ischaemic and non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy. It was proved that the apical rotation was significantly higher in patients with ischaemic cardiomyopathy. Our findings suggest that 3D STE might be useful in non-invasive differentiation between ischaemic and non-ischaemic aetiology of HF.

Left atrial appendage strain rate is associated with documented thromboembolism in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.

BACKGROUND: The left atrial appendage (LAA) strain and strain rate have not yet been studied in the prediction of cardiac thromboembolism. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the significance of LAA strain and strain rate as assessed by speckle-tracking imaging in relation to documented thromboembolic events. METHODS: A group of 80 patients with a mean age of 65 years who were referred for electrical cardioversion of nonvalvular atrial fibrillation was retrospectively analyzed. Each patient underwent 2D transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). Velocity vector imaging (VVI)-derived LAA strain and strain rate in parallel with other conventional TEE predictors were analyzed in terms of their association with previous embolic stroke and peripheral embolization. RESULTS: By comparing the two groups of patients with (22/80) and without embolic events (58/80), patients with embolic events were older, had higher CHA2DS2-VASc scores, higher incidence of coronary artery disease and LAA thrombi, and worse LAA strain and strain rate. Moreover, patients without embolization more often used anticoagulants than patients with embolic events. After adjusting for the abovementioned embolic risk factors, only the CHA2DS2-VASc (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥75 years [double weight], diabetes mellitus, stroke [double weight], vascular disease, age from 65 to 74 years, sex category) score and the LAA strain rate remained as significant predictors of embolic events. CONCLUSION: The results of the study show that the VVI-derived LAA strain rate is a significant predictor of documented ischemic stroke and systemic thromboembolism in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. Its predictive power is similar to the predictive power of the CHA2DS2-VASc score.