Assessment of left ventricular systolic function in young strength athletes using ultrasonic layer-specific strain technology / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the application value of ultrasonic layer-specific strain technology in evaluating left ventricular systolic function in young male strength athletes.Methods:In October 2018, 30 professional young male wrestlers from Henan Provincial Heavy Sports Management Center (athlete group) and 30 healthy young males matched with age (control group) were randomly selected.Using traditional echocardiography combined with stratified strain technique, heart rate (HR), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter(LVDd), interventricular septal thickness on diastole(IVSTd), postwall thickness on diastole (PWTd), relative wall thickness (RWT), end diastolic volume index(EDVI), end systolic volume index (ESVI), ejection fraction (LVEF), stroke volume index (SVI), cardiac index (CI), spherical index (SPI), endocardial myocardial global longitudinal strain(GLSendo), mid-myocardial global longitudinal strain(GLSmid), epicardial myocardial global longitudinal strain(GLSepi), peak strain dispersion(PSD) and whole myocardial longitudinal strain cross-wall difference (&Delta;LS) were measured respectively. The differences between the two sets of data were analyzed.ROC curves were plotted to analyze and compare the stratified strain parameters performance to predict left ventricular systolic function or synchrony in athletes.Results:The values of LVDd, PWTd, IVSTd, RWT, SPI, EDVI, ESVI and SVI in athelete group were higher than those of the control group. And the values of HR, GLSendo, GLSmid, GLSepi and &Delta;LS were lower than those of the control group.The differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in LVEF, CI and PSD between the two groups (all P>0.05). The areas under the ROC curve of GLSendo, GLSmid and GLSepi for athletes′ left ventricular systolic function were 0.753, 0.747 and 0.726, respectively, and the optimal cut-off values were -22.34%, -19.95%, -17.35%, respectively. Conclusions:Long-term high-intensity exercise can lead to subclinical changes in left ventricular systolic function, and ultrasonic layer-specific strain technology can more accurately and specifically evaluate left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Among the GLS parameters, GLSendo is the optimal parameter for testing the left ventricular systolic function of athletes.