Introduction:
Myocardial work is a novel parameter that can be used in a clinic setting to assess left ventricular (LV) pressures and deformation. This study sought to distinguish patterns of global myocardial work index in hypertensive vs. non-hypertensive patients.
Methods:
Fifty (25 male, mean age 60±14 years) hypertensive patients and 15 (7 male, mean age 38±12 years) control patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography at rest. Hypertensive patients were divided into stage 1 (26 patients) and stage 2 (24 patients) based on the 2017 American College of Cardiology guidelines. We excluded patients with suboptimal image quality for myocardial deformation analysis, reduced ejection fraction (EF), valvular heart disease, and arrhythmia. Global work index (GWI), global constructive work (GCW), global wasted work (GWW), and global work efficiency (GWE) were estimated from LV pressure strain loops utilizing proprietary software from speckle-tracking echocardiography. LV systolic and diastolic pressures were estimated using a noninvasive brachial artery cuff.
Results:
Global longitudinal strain (GLS) and EF were preserved between the two groups with no statistically significant difference whereas there was a statistically significant difference in the GWI (p<0.01), GCW (p=0.03), GWW (p<0.01), and GWE (p=0.03) (Figure and Table).
Conclusions:
Myocardial work gives us a closer look at the relationship between LV pressure and contractility in settings of increased load dependency whereas LVEF and GLS cannot. We show how myocardial work is an advanced assessment of LV systolic function in hypertensive patients.
A comparison of cardiac motion analysis software packages: application to left ventricular deformation analysis in hypertensive patients
