Left ventricular longitudinal myocardial function in overt hypothyroidism: a tissue Doppler echocardiographic study

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Endocrinology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Overt hypothyroidism can affect cardiac function.
• Early detection of myocardial impairment is crucial for patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess left ventricular (LV) myocardial regional function in overt hypothyroidism using tissue Doppler imaging.
• To correlate imaging findings with hormonal profiles and standard echocardiography.

Main Methods:

• Transthoracic echocardiography, strain, and strain rate imaging were performed on 25 hypothyroid and 25 euthyroid patients.
• Standard Doppler echocardiography and tissue Doppler imaging were utilized.

Main Results:

• Hypothyroid patients showed prolonged isovolumic contraction time (IVCT), deceleration time (DT), and isovolumic relaxation time (IVRT).
• Significantly lower peak systolic strain (SI), systolic strain rate (SSR), early diastolic strain rate (ESr), and late diastolic strain rate (ASr) were observed in hypothyroid patients.
• Systolic strain and strain rate parameters correlated negatively with thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and positively with free triiodothyronine (fT3) and free tetraiodothyronine (fT4) levels.

Conclusions:

• Overt hypothyroidism is linked to early impairment in LV longitudinal myocardial function.
• Tissue Doppler echocardiography is effective for grading hypothyroidism-related cardiac disease and detecting early functional deficits.