Left Ventricular Function in Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis: A Three-Dimensional Speckle-Tracking Imaging Study

Although maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) appears to induce some risk factors and strengthen cardiac function, the morbidity of ESRD patients receiving hemodialysis remains high. This study aimed to identify left ventricular (LV) structural and functional abnormalities in ESRD patients on MHD using three-dimensional speckle-tracking imaging (3D-STI).

Eighty-five ESRD patients with normal LV ejection fraction (LVEF >50%) participated in this study, including 55 MHD patients comprising the chronic kidney disease (CKD) V-D group and 30 nondialysis patients comprising the CKD V-ND group. Thirty age- and sex-matched control participants who had normal kidney function were enrolled as the N group. Conventional echocardiography and 3D-STI were conducted, and global longitudinal strain (GLS), global circumferential strain (GCS), global area strain (GAS), and global radial strain (GRS) values were measured.

No substantial differences in two-dimensional LVEF were observed among the three groups, and LV hypertrophy was the most common abnormality in patients with ESRD, irrespective of whether they had received or not received MHD. There were no significant differences in the 3D LV mass index between the CKD V-ND and N groups (p > 0.05). Conversely, the 3D LV mass index was considerably higher in the CKD V-D group than in both the N and CKD V-ND groups. The GLS, GAS, and GRS values were significantly lower in the CKD V-ND group than in the N group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the CKD V-D group had significantly lower GLS, GCS, GAS, and GRS values than the N and CKD V-ND groups (p < 0.05). The interventricular septal thickness and E/e' ratio were independently associated with LV strain values in all patients with ESRD.

MHD can exacerbate LV deformation and dysfunction in ESRD patients with preserved LVEF, and 3D-STI can be potentially useful for detecting these asymptomatic preclinical abnormalities.