Evaluation of left ventricular dyssynchrony on dilated cardiomyopathy patients by real-time three-dimensional echocardiography

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the left ventricular synchronicity in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy(DCM) by real-time three-dimensional echocardiography(RT-3DE).Methods Twenty-eight DCM patients and twenty-nine healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study,and clear full volume pictures were aquired using RT-3DE.The time to minimal systolic volume (Tmsv) of each segment was measured,and a mean value of Tmsv for the same segment in each group(Tmsv') was caculated.The standard deviation (Tmsv-SD) and the maximal difference (Tmsv-Dif) of Tmsv were calculated for basal level,mid level,apical lever,12 segments and 16 segments (Tmsv1-6-SD,Tmsv7-12-SD,Tmsv13-16-SD,Tmsv12-SD,Tmsv16-SD,Tmsv1-6-Dif,Tmsv7-12-Dif,Tmsv13-16-Dif,Tmsv12-Dif,Tmsv16-Dif).Results There were no significant differences among 1-17 Tmsv' within each group.No significant differences were found between two groups for Tmsv' derived from the same segment.All asynchrony indexs of DCM patients were remarkably higher than those of the healthy volunteers (P＜0.01 or P＜0.05),and correlated closely with LVEF determined by RT-3DE (r=-0.576～-0.768,P＜0.01 or P＜0.05) except for those of the mid level(r=-0.402～-0.449,P＞0.05).Conclusions Dyssynchrony exist in globle and each level of DCM patients' left ventricle.RT-3DE is an available technique for left ventricular synchronicity quantification. Key words: Echocardiography,real-time three-dimensional; Cardiomyopathy,dilated; Ventricular function,left