PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF RIGHT VENTRICULAR FREE WALL STRAIN IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE DECOMPENSATED HEART FAILURE

ABSTRACT

AIM: To Determine the Prognostic Value Of 2D- Right ventricle Free Wall Longitudinal Strain In Patients With Acute Decompensated Heart Failure. BACKGROUND Ÿ The prognostic impact of 2-dimensional strain is unclear in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (HF). Ÿ we investigate whether left ventricular and right ventricular (RV) strain parameters assessed by speckle tracking echocardiography provide incremental prognostic information in hospitalized patients because of acute decompensated HF. METHODS AND RESULTS Ÿ FOURTY SIX patients (age, 54±9 years; 6.5% women; ejection fraction, 36±5%) hospitalized for acute decompensated HF underwent clinical and echocardiographic evaluation just before discharge. We performed strain analyses of left ventricular global longitudinal strain and RV longitudinal strain only from the free wall (RV-fwLS) and from all segments of the RV global longitudinal strain wall by echocardiogram. The primary composite end point was cardiovascular death and readmission for HF. There were 30.4% cardiac events during a median follow-up of 180 days. Among echocardiographic parameters, only impaired RV-fwLS (Less Than 11.4±4.9) was independently associated with cardiac events. Adding RV-fwLS to clinical risk evaluation (age, New York Heart Association class III/IV, blood urea nitrogen, and brain natriuretic peptide) markedly improved prognostic utility. CONCLUSIONS: Ÿ RV-fwLS is an independent predictor of cardiac events in acute decompensated HF. Although there are various standard echocardiographic parameters, RV-fwLS has improved prognostic utility.