An initial study on left ventricular diastolic function in patients with hypertrophy cardiomyopathy using...

To assess the regional diastolic function in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) by using single-beat, real-time, three-dimensional echocardiography (RT-3DE).

Sixty-five patients with HCM in sinus rhythm together with fifty age- and gender-matched normal controls were studied by two dimensional echocardiography (2DE) and RT-3DE. The parameters analyzed by RT-3DE included: left ventricular (LV) volumes, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), end diastolic sphericity index (EDSI), diastolic dyssynchrony index (DDI), dispersion end diastole (DISPED), and normalized 17 segmental volume-time curves.

Evaluated by RT-3DE, LVEF was slightly lower compared with 2DE (63.2 ± 6.8% vs. 59.1 ± 6.4%, P < 0.0001). Normal subjects had relatively uniform volumetric curves for all LV segments. In HCM patients, the segmental volumetric curves were dyssynchronous. Increased DDI and DISPED in end diastole were observed in patients with HCM (9.95 ± 3.75, 41.76 ± 17.19, P < 0.0001), and not all abnormal volumetric segments occurred in the hypertrophic regions.

Patients with HCM have presented regional diastolic dyssynchrony in the diastole phase, and this preclinical lesion can be recognized by single-beat RT-3DE.