Assessment of Cardiac Function during First Pregnancy Using Speckle Tracking Echocardiography

Abstract

Background: Pregnancy is a dynamic process associated with significant and thorough hormonal and hemodynamic changes that directly or indirectly influence cardiac function. However, the effect of these alterations on left ventricular myocardial contractile function has not been fully illustrated. Objective: To assess the maternal cardiac function during the third trimester of first pregnancy using Speckle Tracking echocardiography. Results: This cross sectional study was carried out in Baghdad teaching hospital in the time period from November 2020 to June 2021. A total of 100 women were studied, they were classified into two groups: 50 non pregnant women with mean age (24.6 ±4.60 years) served as control group, and 50 pregnant women with normal singleton pregnancy (30-40 weeks of gestation) with mean age (23.6±3.63 year) served as study group. The left ventricular systolic function was assessed using transthoracic echocardiography to measure LV ejection fraction EF%. Furthermore, the left ventricular contractile function evaluated with speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) by measuring LV global longitudinal strain (GLS). The left ventricular ejection fraction shows no significant difference between pregnant and control group (p= 0.214), while the left ventricular global longitudinal strain (GLS) shows significant decrease in the pregnant females in their third trimester (p=0.001). Conclusion: left ventricular global longitudinal strain (GLS) shows significant reduction during the third trimester of normal first pregnancy.