Left ventricular global longitudinal strain is independently associated with mortality in septic shock patients

Conventional echocardiography may not detect subtle cardiac dysfunction of septic patients. Two-dimensional left ventricular (LV) global peak systolic longitudinal strain (GLS) can detect early cardiac dysfunction. We sought to determine the prognostic value of GLS for septic shock patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs).

We prospectively included 111 ICU patients with septic shock. A full medical history was recorded for each patient, and LV systolic function, including GLS, was measured. Our endpoints were ICU and hospital mortality.

The ICU and hospital mortalities were 31.5% (n = 35) and 35.1% (n = 39), respectively. There was no significant difference in LV ejection fraction of the non-survivors and the survivors; however, upon ICU admission, the non-survivors exhibited GLSs that were less negative than those of the survivors, which indicated worse LV systolic function. GLS of -13% presented the best sensitivity and specificity in the prediction of mortality (area under the curve 0.79). The patients with GLS ≥ -13% exhibited higher ICU and hospital mortality rates (hazard ratio 4.34, p < 0.001 and hazard ratio 4.21, p < 0.001, respectively). Cox regression analyses revealed that higher Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II scores and less negative GLSs were independent predictors of ICU and hospital mortalities. GLS was found to add prognostic information to the APACHE II score.

These findings suggest that combining GLS and the APACHE II score has additive value in the prediction of ICU and hospital mortalities and that GLS may help in early identification of high-risk septic shock patients in ICU.