Systematical quantitative evaluation of left ventricular mechanical dysfunction in patients with cirrhosis using ultrasonic layer-specific strain imaging / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To assess the left ventricular (LV) myocardial mechanical dysfunction in patients with cirrhosis using ultrasonic layer-specific strain imaging and to explore its value in clinical application.Methods:A total of 80 consecutive cirrhosis patients without cardiovascular diseases were prospectively enrolled from October 2020 to March 2021 in Sichuan Provincial People′s Hospital, 39 of whom were assigned to the compensated group and 41 were assigned to the decompensated group according to the occurrence of portal hypertension. Forty-three healthy volunteers during the same period were randomly recruited as the control group. Transthoracic echocardiography was performed to assess the LV configuration and functional parameters. LV global longitudinal strain in endocardial, middle and epicardial myocardium (GLSendo, GLSmid, GLSepi), and longitudinal strain (LS) in basal, middle and apical segments, and peak strain dispersion (PSD) were obtained using ultrasonic layer-specific strain imaging. &Delta;LS was calculated by the formula of GLSendo-GLSepi. Then, the differences of related parameters among three groups were compared.Results:①Conventional echocardiography compared with the control group, the interventricular septum end-diastolic thickness (IVSTd), left ventricular posterior wall end-diastolic thickness (LVPWd), left ventricular mass (LVM) and LVM index (LVMI) were increased in compensated and decompensated groups (all P<0.05), while no significant differences in conventional echocardiographic parameters were identified between the two cirrhosis groups (all P>0.05). ②Global layer-specific strain compared with the control group, GLSendo, GLSmid, GLSepi and &Delta;LS were decreased and PSD was increased in compensated and decompensated groups (all P<0.05); Moreover, the decompensated group showed a more impaired GLSendo, GLSmid and GLSepi than compensated group (all P<0.05), whereas there were no significant differences of &Delta;LS and PSD between the two groups(all P>0.05). ③Segmental layer-specific strain compared with the control group, LS values of three layers in compensated and decompensated groups were reduced at basal, middle and apical levels (all P<0.05); Compared with the compensated group, LS values of three layers in decompensated group tended to be reduced at above there levels, but only apical segments had significant differences (all P<0.05). Conclusions:There are different degrees of LV mechanical dysfunction in patients with variable severity of cirrhosis. Ultrasonic layer-specific strain imaging has the potential to quantitatively assess the state of cardiac involvement in patients with cirrhosis and to provide visual evidence for the early and accurate diagnosis of myocardial injuries.