BACKGROUNDStrain and strain-rate imaging (SRI) have been found clinically useful in the assessment of cardiac systolic and diastolic function as well as providing new insights in deciphering cardiac physiology and mechanics in cardiomyopathies, and identifying early subclinical changes in various pathologies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the regional and global left ventricular (LV) myocardial function in metabolic syndrome (MS) with SRI so that we can provide more myocardial small lesions in patients with MS, which is robust and reliable basis for early detection of LV function.

METHODSThirty-nine adults with MS were enrolled in the study. There was a control group of 39 healthy adults. In addition to classic echocardiographic assessment of LV global functional changes, SRI was used to evaluate regional and global LV function. Including: Peak systolic strain (S), peak systolic strain-rate (SR-s), peak diastolic strain-rate (SR-e).

RESULTSThere were no statistically significant differences between MS and controls in all traditional parameters of LV systolic function. On the other hand, significant differences were observed between MS and the control group in most of the parameters of S, SR-s, SR-e in regional LV function. Multiple stepwise regression analyses revealed that S and SR significantly were negatively correlated with blood pressure, waist circumference, fasting plasma glucose, uric acid, suggesting that risk factories were relevant to regional systolic dysfunction.

CONCLUSIONIn MS with normal LV ejection fraction, there was regional myocardial dysfunction, risk factors contributed to the impairment of systolic and diastolic function of the regional myocardium. Assessment of myocardial function using SRI could be more accurate in MS patient evaluation than conventional echocardiography alone.