Mechanical deformation in adult patients with unrepaired aortic coarctation

AbstractAortic coarctation is a congenital heart disease that causes an increased left ventricular afterload, resulting in increased systolic parietal tension, compensatory hypertrophy, and left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction. The speckle tracking is a new echocardiographic technique that allows the detection of subclinic left ventricular systolic  dysfunction. The aim of this study was to detect early left ventricular dysfunction using mechanical deformation by echocardiography in adults with un-repaired aortic coarctation. A total of 41 subjects were studied, 20 patients with aortic coarctation and 21 control subjects, 21 women (51.2%), wi th an average age of 30 ± 10 years. All patients with aortic coarctation had systemic arterial hypertension (p <  0.001). Seventy percent (14/20) of the patients had bicuspid aortic valve. Statistically significance (p <  0.005) were found in left ventricular mass index, E/e ratio, pulmonary artery systolic pressure and peak velocity and maximum gradient of the aortic valve. The global longitudinal deformation of the left ventricle in patients with aortic coarctation was significative decreased,p <  0.001. The ejection fraction and the global longitudinal deformation of the left ventricle were significantly lower in patients with aortic coarctation compared to the control group,p <  0.003,p <  0.001, respectively. The subgroup of patients with coarctation and left ventricular eject...
Source: The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging - Category: Radiology Source Type: research