Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography : official publication of the American Society of Echocardiography
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J Am Soc Echocardiogr · Nov 2017
Deformation Analysis of Myocardial Layers Detects Early Cardiac Dysfunction after Chemotherapy in Bone Marrow Transplantation Patients: A Continuous and Additive Cardiotoxicity Process.
Chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity has not been extensively validated in bone marrow transplantation (BMT) patients. Speckle-tracking echocardiography is a sensitive method for the detection of subclinical cardiac dysfunction. ⋯ In BMT patients, myocardial deformation analysis detected early and progressive subclinical cardiac dysfunction. Impaired LV GLS had predictive value for the detection of abnormal LVEF at 12-month follow-up. Thus, myocardial deformation study should be applied early after BMT to prevent irreversible cardiac dysfunction by appropriate treatment.
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J Am Soc Echocardiogr · Oct 2017
Atrial Function as an Independent Predictor of Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation in Patients Undergoing Aortic Valve Surgery for Severe Aortic Stenosis.
Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is a common, clinically relevant, but hardly predictable complication after surgical aortic valve replacement. The aim of this study was to test the role of preoperative left atrial longitudinal strain as a predictor of POAF in clinical practice. ⋯ PALS and PACS indexes are routinely feasible and useful to predict POAF in patients with severe isolated aortic stenosis undergoing surgical aortic valve replacement.
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J Am Soc Echocardiogr · Aug 2017
Late Detection of Left Ventricular Dysfunction Using Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography in Patients with History of Nonsevere Acute Myocarditis.
Acute myocarditis (AM) often involves the left ventricular (LV) subepicardium that might be displayed by cardiac magnetic resonance even late after the acute phase. In the absence of global or regional LV dysfunction, conventional transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) does not accurately identify tissue sequelae of AM. We sought to evaluate the diagnostic value of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) speckle-tracking echocardiography to identify patients with a history of AM with preserved LV ejection fraction (LVEF). ⋯ In patients with a history of AM, a subtle LV dysfunction can be detected by 2D and 3D speckle-tracking echocardiography, even though LVEF is conserved, adding incremental information over conventional TTE.
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J Am Soc Echocardiogr · Aug 2017
Alterations in Cardiac Deformation, Timing of Contraction and Relaxation, and Early Myocardial Fibrosis Accompany the Apparent Recovery of Acute Stress-Induced (Takotsubo) Cardiomyopathy: An End to the Concept of Transience.
Takotsubo syndrome is an increasingly recognized cause of chest pain and occasionally of cardiogenic shock. Despite rapid improvement of the left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction, recent registry data raise concerns about long-term prognosis. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that restoration of normal ejection fraction after acute takotsubo syndrome is not equivalent to full functional recovery. ⋯ In patients with the most clinically severe spectrum of takotsubo cardiomyopathy, regional LV systolic and diastolic deformation abnormalities persist beyond the acute event, despite normalization of global LV ejection fraction and size. In addition, although myocardial edema partly subsides, a process of global microscopic fibrosis develops in its place, detected as early as 4 months.
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Right ventricular (RV) free wall strain (RVFWS) is a feasible method for quantitation and follow-up of RV function and may have benefits over traditional markers such as fractional area change. However, like all ejection phase parameters, RVFWS is difficult to assess in the presence of changing afterload. The aim of this study was to compare RVFWS and traditional RV function parameters for tracking progress of RV function in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) over a range of pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASPs). ⋯ Afterload changes should be taken into account in the evaluation of RVFWS during PAH follow-up, with the relationship to PASP likely to be linear.