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Left ventricular dyssynchrony is an early manifestation of heart involvement in sickle cell anemia

Mehmet Fatih Karakaş1, Eyüp Büyükkaya, Mustafa Kurt

  • 1Department of Cardiology, Tayfur Ata Sokmen Medical School, Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey. mfkarakas@hotmail.com

Echocardiography (Mount Kisco, N.Y.)
|January 12, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Sickle cell anemia (SCA) patients show early signs of left ventricular systolic dyssynchrony, even with normal ejection fraction. This indicates potential heart involvement preceding or accompanying diastolic dysfunction.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Hematology
  • Medical Imaging

Background:

  • Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is a common inherited anemia with known cardiac complications.
  • Left ventricular (LV) involvement is established in SCA, but contraction synchrony changes are understudied.
  • This study focuses on LV contraction synchrony in SCA patients with normal ejection fraction (EF) and narrow QRS.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate left ventricular (LV) contraction synchrony in sickle cell anemia (SCA) patients.
  • To identify early cardiac manifestations in SCA patients with preserved EF and narrow QRS.
  • To explore the relationship between LV dyssynchrony and other cardiac parameters in SCA.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized color-coded tissue Doppler imaging to assess LV dyssynchrony.
  • Included 36 SCA patients and 37 matched controls.
  • Analyzed various echocardiographic parameters, including systolic and diastolic function indices.

Main Results:

  • SCA patients exhibited significantly higher LV systolic dyssynchrony parameters (Ts-SD-12, Ts-12, Ts-SD-6, Ts-6) compared to controls.
  • Ventricular dyssynchrony (Ts-SD-12 > 34.4 msec) was present in 55.6% of SCA patients versus 8.1% of controls (P < 0.001).
  • Systolic dyssynchrony correlated with hemoglobin, ferritin, LVMI, and diastolic parameters (E/A, Dt, Em).

Conclusions:

  • Left ventricular systolic dyssynchrony is an early indicator of cardiac involvement in SCA patients with normal EF and narrow QRS.
  • This dyssynchrony may occur concurrently with or precede diastolic dysfunction.
  • Tissue Doppler imaging is valuable for detecting early cardiac changes in SCA.
Abstract

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