Investigation of left ventricular function and biomarkers following chemotherapy in patients with light-chain cardiac amyloidosis / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To assess whether strain parameters derived from three-dimensional speckle tracking imaging ( 3D-STI) could identify improvement of cardiac function and predict response of patients with immunoglobulin light-chain cardiac amyloidosis ( AL-CA) following chemotherapy . Methods Totally 13 patients with AL-CA [aged (58 .5 ± 8 .9)years;69％ males] were treated with melphalan or bortezomib-based regimens and by regular chemotherapy for 6 months .The clinical data was collected . Maximal left ventricular wall thickness (MLVWT) ,left ventricular mass index (LVMI) ,left ventricular ejection fraction ( LVEF) ,systolic mitral annular velocity ( s′) ,early diastolic mitral annular velocity echocardiography ( e′) , 3D-STI global longitudinal ,circumferential ,radial and area strain (GLS ,GCS ,GRS ,and GAS) ,the standard deviation of time to peak longitudinal strain among 16 left ventricular segments ( TS-SD_GLS ) were obtained by conventional echocardiography and 3D-STI . In addition ,serologic biomarkers including N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide ( NT-proBNP) and free light chains ( FLC) were acquired at baseline and 6 months after chemotherapy . These patients were divided into two groups according to difference of FLCcomplete response (CR) group and Non-CR group . The clinical data ,cardiac ultrasound parameters and serological parameters were compared between groups ,each group parameters at baseline and 6 months after chemotherapy were compared within the group.Results ①There were no significant differencein conventional echocardiographic parameters ,GCS ,GRS and GAS ,as well as TS-SD_GLS in either group between before and after chemotherapy . But GLS was improved only in CR group ( P = 0 .036) ,and its improvement was correlated with the decrease in NT-proBNP ( r = -0 .738 , P = 0 .037) . ② In baseline evaluation ,patients in Non-CR group had increased LVMI ,deteriorated e′ and GLS ,and longer Ts-SD as compared to those in CR group ( all P < 0 .05 ) . ③ ROC analysis revealed that these parameters had discriminative ability to forecast those with better therapeutic effectiveness ,esecially for AL-CA patients with baseline LVMI<96 .55 g/m2 ,e′>4 .7 cm/s ,absolute value of GLS>16 .6％ ,and TS-SD_GLS<35 .2 ms ,which may have better hematologic response to chemotherapy . Conclusions GLS can identify early improvement of cardiac function in AL-CA patients after chemotherapy . Moreover ,LVMI ,e′,GLS and TS-SD_GLS are sensitive measurements of pre-treatment ventricular impairment ,and may predict better response to chemotherapy .