P812 A comparative echocardiographic study of young healthy males with early repolarization pattern

Abstract

Abstract Background Early repolarization pattern (ERP) takes part from the J-wave syndromes and is associated with enhanced ventricular arrhythmogenesis in susceptible individuals. The main reason of our study was, that possible existence of subtle structural and functional cardiac changes related to ERP is still not well estabilished. Methods We compared 32 echocardiographic parameters (standard measures and specle tracking derived strain) of 30 young men (mean age 21.5 years) with ERP and 32 age and body-mass matched young men without ERP. T-test and chi-square test were used for statistical analysis (significant difference if p < 0.05). Results Only the presence of mild mitral regurgitation was significantly more frequent in the ERP group (36.7% vs. 9.5%, p = 0.01). There were no significant differences regarding the other parameters, e.g., the interventricular septum (9.5 mm vs. 9.4 mm, p = 0.97), the end-diastolic diameters of the left and right ventricles (45 mm vs. 46.6 mm, p = 0.11; 34.9 mm vs. 33.8 mm, p = 0.42), the left ventricular ejection fraction ( 62.4% vs. 60.9 %, p = 0,3), the longitudinal diameters of the left and right atrium (51.8 mm vs. 53.1 mm, p = 0.27; 36.8 mm vs. 36.1 mm, p = 0.20), and the left ventricular global longitudinal strain (-21.75% vs. -21.28, p = 0.77). Conclusion In young males with ERP the vast majority of echocardiographic parameters was not different from those measured in their counterparts without ERP. The existence and clinical significance of the more prevalent mild mitral regurgitation in the ERP group has to be confirmed in a larger cohort.