Clinical study of two-dimensional speckle tracking to evaluate abnormal myocardial motion due to coronary lesions

To investigate the predictive ability of global longitudinal strain (GLS) and mechanical dispersion for coronary stenosis and provide a more reliable noninvasive method for diagnosis of obstructive coronary artery disease(OCAD).

Sixty-seven patients diagnosed with suspected CAD were included in the study. Patients with coronary stenosis greater than 50% were assigned as OCAD, while the others were assigned as non obstructive coronary artery disease(NOCAD). General information was collected and patients underwent speckle tracking echocardiogram(STE).

Spearman's correlation analysis showed that GLS and mechanical dispersion were positively correlated with the degree of coronary stenosis (r = 0.383, 0.342, p < 0.05), and there was also a positive correlation between GLS and mechanical dispersion (r = 0.327, p < 0.05). GLS, longitudinal strain (LS) of each chamber, and mechanical dispersion were higher in the OCAD group than in the NOCAD group (p < 0.05). Univariate regression analysis showed that GLS, each lumen LS and mechanical dispersion were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Multifactorial regression analysis showed that elevated GLS (p = 0.007) and elevated mechanical dispersion (p = 0.030) were independent risk factors for OCAD. The ROC curves showed that GLS predicted OCAD (AUC area 0.745, 95% CI 0.624 to 0.865) versus mechanical discrete prediction of OCAD (AUC area 0.702, 95% CI 0.569 to 0.834) were more diagnostic than conventional cardiac ultrasound observations of ventricular wall motion abnormalities (AUC area 0.566, 95% CI 0.463 to 0.669).

Combining GLS with mechanical dispersion can rapidly assess OCAD in a very short period, which has strong promotion value and in-depth research value.