Proximal aortic compliance and diastolic function assessed by speckle tracking imaging

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Imaging
• Echocardiography
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Speckle tracking imaging (STI) evaluates echocardiographic images dynamically.
• STI provides tissue velocities and strain rates, crucial for cardiac function assessment.
• Proximal aortic compliance is a key factor in cardiovascular health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if STI can quantify proximal aortic compliance.
• To assess if reduced aortic compliance, measured by STI, correlates with diastolic dysfunction.
• To explore the relationship between aortic mechanics and left ventricular diastolic function.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of intraoperative transesophageal echocardiographic images.
• Quantification of diastolic performance using STI-based left ventricular early diastolic velocities (LV E').
• Calculation of proximal aortic compliance using STI-derived longitudinal and radial velocities, normalized for mean arterial pressure.

Main Results:

• Twenty patients were included in the analysis.
• A significant correlation was found between proximal aortic compliance and LV E' (R(2) = 0.26, P < 0.05).
• STI successfully described aortic wall motion and enabled compliance calculation.

Conclusions:

• Speckle tracking imaging is a viable method for quantifying aortic compliance.
• Aortic compliance is a contributing factor to variations in diastolic function.
• This novel STI approach offers advantages for assessing aortic compliance and its impact on cardiac function.