Evaluation of myocardial perfusion and systolic function in patients with coronary heart disease by myocardial contrast echocardiography and 2-dimensional speckle tracking imaging.

Abstract

The high prevalence and high fatality rate of coronary heart disease seriously endanger the safety of human life. The key to its treatment is to restore the perfusion of the narrowed coronary arteries as soon as possible. Two-dimensional echocardiography is limited for assessment of postoperative myocardial function. Myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) and 2-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (2D-STI) possess good value in assessing myocardial perfusion and systolic function. We used MCE and 2D-STI to explore the changes of myocardial perfusion and systolic function after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with coronary heart disease, and to evaluate the clinical value of MCE and 2D-STI. Twenty patients with coronary heart disease undergoing PCI were selected. MCE was performed before and one day after PCI, and 2D-STI and conventional ultrasound were performed before and a month after PCI. The recovery of left ventricular wall motion was used as a standard to evaluate the ability of MCE semi-quantitative analysis and to predict the recovery of myocardial segment motion. The quantitative value of MCE (signal intensity of contrast medium in plateau phase, slope of curve, and their product) one day after PCI and the contractile function of one month after PCI were significantly improved (all P<0.05). There were 90 myocardial segments with abnormal motion dominated by the coronary artery with stent implantation before PCI, and 54 segments recovered 1 month after PCI. The sensitivity and specificity of MCE score ≤2 to predict recoverable wall motion were 93% and 53%, respectively. MCE and 2D-STI can evaluate the improvement of myocardial perfusion and systolic function in patients with coronary heart disease after PCI, and MCE semi-quantitative analysis can effectively predict the ability of ventricular wall recovery.