Abstract
IntroductionThere are limited long-term follow-up data on functional changes in the myocardium after high-voltage electrical injury (HVEI).MethodsTwenty-three patients who had been exposed to HVEI (>20,000 volts) and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (≥55%) were enrolled in the study. Echocardiographic parameters, including peak systolic strain (S) and strain rate (SR), were evaluated at baseline, six weeks and six months later. These data were compared with a healthy control group who were matched in terms of age, sex and body mass index.ResultsThe systolic and diastolic blood pressure and the heart rate were significantly higher in the HVEI group compared with the control group at baseline and at six weeks, but not at the six-month follow-up. Conventional echocardiographic data showed no differences between the groups during the study period. In contrast to the S, the baseline and six weeks, SR was significantly increased in the HVEI group compared with the control group. However, at the six-month follow-up, there was no difference in the SR between the groups. Among the 23 patients with HVEI, 17 of the patients had vertical current injury, and 6 patients had horizontal current injury. There was no difference in terms of the conventional echocardiography, S and SR between the patients with vertical injury and those with horizontal injury at baseline and at the six-month follow-up.ConclusionsThe long-term contractile performance of the myocardium is preserved when patient do not experience left ventricular dysfunction in the early stages after HVEI.
Highlights
There are limited long-term follow-up data on functional changes in the myocardium after highvoltage electrical injury (HVEI)
The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is the current standard for measuring systolic function, a tissue Doppler image measures the strain (S) and the strain rate (SR), both of which are basic descriptors of the nature and the function of cardiac tissue and they have been applied to the assessment of LV function [7]
Patients were excluded if they had been injured more than 48 hours before the study, had any cardiac disease, had left ventricular dysfunction (LVEF
Summary
There are limited long-term follow-up data on functional changes in the myocardium after highvoltage electrical injury (HVEI). High-voltage electrical injury (HVEI) is relatively infrequent and various incidences of cardiac abnormalities after this type of injury have been reported [1,2]. There have been a small number of echocardiographic studies of changes in myocardial function after HVEI with a relatively small sample size [6]. It is not clear whether HVEI is associated with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. We sought to examine changes in myocardial function using 2D speckle tracking imaging in patients with preserved LV function after HVEI in a long-term follow-up study
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