Abstract
Background
One of the novel echocardiographic indices reflecting left ventricular (LV) diastolic filling is the combination of mitral annular peak systolic (s’) and early diastolic velocities (e’) with early transmitral peak flow velocity (E); E/(e’ x s’). This index is reported to be useful to predict a prognosis of heart failure patients regardless of their LV ejection fraction (LVEF).Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine whether or not E/(e’ x s’) could predict cardiac events in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).Methods: We studies consecutive ACS patients hospitalized in our institution between December 2009 and February 2012. They underwent echo examination within 7 days after admission. By use of Doppler tissue imaging, e’ and s’ were respectively calculated by averaging the peak velocities measured at both septal and lateral mitral annulus in 4-chamber view. The exclusion criteria were as follows: atrial fibrillation, significant valvular diseases and inadequate echo images. Cardiac events were defined as re-hospitalization due to recurrent ACS and/or heart failure, and cardiac mortality.Results: In total, 168 patients were eligible for this study (mean age 67 ± 11 years, mean LVEF 51.7 ± 10.3 %). Median follow-up period was 22.5 months. During the follow-up, cardiac events occurred in 27 patients (16.1%). Between the patients with cardiac events and those without, there were significant differences in LV end-systolic volume (44.2 ± 29.1 vs 33.2 ± 13.6 ml, p < 0.05), LV mass index (122.4 ± 38.9 vs 107.5 ± 26.4 g/m², p < 0.05), left atrial volume index (31.7 ± 9.2 vs 27.6 ± 9.4 ml/m², p < 0.05), LVEF (45.7 ± 13.5 vs 52.9 ± 9.2 %, p < 0.05), s’ (5.1 ± 1.6 vs 7.1 ± 1.7 cm/sec, p < 0.001), e’ (4.8 ± 1.3 vs 6.0 ± 1.9 cm/sec, p < 0.05), E/e’ (16.4 ± 6.6 vs 12.5 ± 4.9, p < 0.05), E/(e’ x s’) (3.78 ± 2.52 vs 1.94 ± 1.08, p < 0.001), and serum B-type natriuretic peptide (334.7 ± 420.1 vs 113.8 ± 177.2 pg/ml, p < 0.05). While Cox proportional hazard multivariate analysis detected that E/(e’ x s’) and E/e’ were independent predictors of cardiac events, E/(e’ x s’) was more powerful than E/e’ (p = 0.0002 vs p = 0.0072). ROC analysis revealed that 2.35 of E/(e’ x s’) was the optimal cutoff values to predict cardiac events in ACS patients (AUC 0.79). Patients with E/(e’ x s’) <2.35 had significantly better prognosis than the rest (p < 0.0001, Log-rank; Figure)Conclusion: E/(e’ x s’) could be a useful echo marker to predict cardiac events in ACS patients.
Abstract P1512 Figure.
Severe coarctation of the aorta without a severely elevated echocardiographic pressure gradient: a case highlighting the importance of aortic Doppler flow profile
