Tissue Doppler imaging and ultrasonic methods for evaluating myocardial deformation in the diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic cardiovascular disease caused by mutations in genes that encode components of the sarcomere. Standard echocardiography is not always capable to identify regional systolic dysfunction of the left ventricle (LV), and to detect the disease on its preclinical stage. Genetic testing allows identifying sarcomere gene mutations in less than 50% of patients due to difficulty of screening all genes responsible for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Modern innovative methods of echocardiography - tissue Doppler, strain and strain rate, speckle tracking have been widely used for quantification of regional ventricular motion. Work of recent decades has proven the ability of these techniques to detect regional systolic and diastolic dysfunction of the LV, to diagnose HCM early, to differentiate it from other pathological and physiological hypertrophies. These modes can be used for prediction of cardiovascular complications in patients with HCM. In clinical practice the use of innovative technologies in combination with standard echocardiography allows to obtain more accurate and extensive information on the severity and prognosis of the disease.