Longitudinal layer-specific strain assessment of left ventricular systolic function of patients with coronary chronic total occlusion before and after revascularization

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the longitudinal layer-specific strain of patients with coronary chronic total occlusion (CTO) before and 1 day after the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) by two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (2D-STI), and then to explore the clinical value of PCI for patients with CTO. Methods A total of 30 patients diagnosed with CTO through coronary angiography and successfully taken the PCI procedure were enrolled in this study. Twenty-nine healthy volunteers were set as the control group. All patients were assigned to take echocardiography 1 day before and 1 day after PCI. The apical four-chamber (4CH), apical two-chamber (2CH) and the apical long-axis (APLAX) echocardiographic images of all subjects were acquired. Left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV), end-systolic volume (LVESV), ejection fraction (LVEF) and stroke volume (LVSV) were measured. The mitral annular lateral S′, septal S′ and average S′ by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) were also measured. The longitudinal layer-specific strain was analysed by 2D-STI. Results Compared to the control group, CTO group showed a decreased endocardial, midcardial and epicardial longitudinal strain of 4CH, 2CH and APLAX (P 0.05). All the other measures showed no significant difference among the three groups (P>0.05). Conclusions The longitudinal strain of patients with CTO is decreased compared to that of healthy people and increased after PCI. Key words: Echocardiography; Coronary occlusion; Speckle tracking imaging; Ventricular function, left