OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) on left ventricular (LV) diastolic function measured by speckle tracking imaging (STI) in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

METHODSCRT was performed in 21 DCM patients [15 male, mean age: 61.2 ± 11.2 (49-82) years].LV synchronization, LV systolic function and LV diastolic function were evaluated with conventional echocardiography, tissue Doppler imaging and STI before and 6 months after CRT.NYHA heart function was also assessed. Clinic Response to CRT was defined as improvement of more than 1 NYHA class.Response to CRT in echocardiography was defined as ≥ 15% reduction in LV end systolic volume at 6 months post CRT.

RESULTSThere were 16 responders and 5 non-responders at 6 months post CRT.In terms of diastolic function, conventional echocardiography derived deceleration time was both prolonged in non-responders and responders. At 6 months post CRT, STI derived LV isovolumetric diastolic strain rate [(0.19 ± 0.11) /s vs.(0.14 ± 0.09)/s, P < 0.001] was significantly increased while early diastolic mitral valve blood flow velocity/left ventricular isovolumetric diastolic strain rate (680 ± 600 vs.787 ± 690, P < 0.04) was significantly reduced in responder group while remained unchanged in non-responder group.Furthermore, left ventricular isovolumetric diastolic strain rate negatively correlated with plasma brain natriuretic peptide level (r = -0.68, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONIn CRT responders of DCM patients, LV diastolic function is significantly improved and this change could be detected more effectively by STI derived LV diastolic function parameters.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; therapy ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Ventricular Function, Left

OBJECTIVEThe clinical data of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients with or without pulmonary hypertension (PH) diagnosed by echocardiography were compared.

METHODSDuring January 2007 to December 2009, 61 cases of DCM with PH and 51 cases of DCM without PH were admitted in our department. The demographic and clinical data, heart function, echocardiography and serum total bilirubin and creatinine levels of all patients were analyzed.

RESULTSSex, age, vital signs, combined diseases and arrhythmias as well as the serum creatinine level [(103.5 ± 49.7) µmol/L vs. (90.3 ± 37.3) µmol/L, P > 0.05] were similar between the two groups, while the incidence of NYHA III and IV (95% vs. 65%), the left ventricle end-systolic dimension[(71.0 ± 9.6) mm vs. (65.5 ± 7.2) mm], dimension of the left atrium [(52.8 ± 8.93) mm vs. (43.9 ± 6.3) mm], right ventricular outflow tract [(29.1 ± 5.3) mm vs. (22.1 ± 3.3) mm] incidence of pericardial effusion (29/61 vs. 7/51) and the serum total bilirubin level [(45.3 ± 31.8) µmol/L vs. (19.5 ± 9.08) µmol/L] were significantly higher while ejective fraction was significantly lower in DCM with PH than those in DCM without PH (0.28 ± 0.10 vs. 0.36 ± 0.10, all P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONDCM patients with PH is linked with worse clinical features than DCM patients without PH.

Adult ; Aged ; Bilirubin ; blood ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; complications ; diagnostic imaging ; Creatinine ; blood ; Echocardiography ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; complications ; diagnostic imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinicopathologic manifestations of non-compaction of ventricular myocardium (NVM).

METHODSClinical data, electrocardiograms, echocardiography images and pathologic changes were studied in five cases of non-compaction of ventricular myocardium.

RESULTSThe patient's ages ranged from 29 to 57 years old, all were males. Abnormal electrocardiograms were obtained in all of the 5 cases. Among them, 3 were diagnosed using echocardiography. Histopathologic examination showed that there were abnormally coarse muscle trabeculation and deep recesses, interlacing in arrangement, over the inner wall of the heart chambers. The compacted myocardium became thinning down gradually from the base to the apex of the heart. The non-compacted myocardium bundles locating close to the endocardium were coarse and orderless in arrangement, nuclei were irregular and abnormal, nevertheless, the arrangement and appearance of the muscle bundles near by the pericardium part were essentially normal and the cell nuclei were evenly distributed.

CONCLUSIONThere are no specific clinical manifestations obtained in patients with non-compaction of ventricular myocardium, however, the pathologic changes are characteristic and a clinical diagnosis can be made by using echocardiography.

Adult ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Electrocardiography ; Heart Ventricles ; pathology ; Humans ; Isolated Noncompaction of the Ventricular Myocardium ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardium ; pathology ; Ultrasonography

Objective: To investigate the distribution pattern of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in left ventricular free wall of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Methods: A total of 130 consecutive DCM patients who were hospitalized in our hospital, underwent both CMR and CTA examinations and met the inclusion and exclusion criteria including negative results of coronary angiography or coronary CTA, were retrospective included in this study. The LGE pattern, extent and distribution in left ventricular free wall were analyzed. Results: Left ventricular free wall LGE was detected in 56 out of 130 DCM patients. LGE was observed in both septal and free wall in 53 out of 56 patients with LGE (94.6%). Prevalence of NYHA classification Ⅲ/Ⅳ, intraventricular block, paroxysmal ventricular tachycardia, and secondary mitral insufficiency was significantly higher, while left ventricular ejection fraction was significantly lower, left ventricular end-diastolic/systolic volume, left ventricular end-diastolic/systolic volume index and left ventricular end-diastolic diameters values were larger in patients with LGE than without LGE (all P<0.05). In terms LGE pattern among these 56 patients, percent of involved myocardial segments in patients with subepicardial LGE (n=19) was significantly higher than patients with intermural LGE (n=30), patients with transmural LGE (n=21), and patients with subendocardial LGE (n=9)(60.8%(127/209) vs. 32.4%(107/330), 32.5%(75/231), 26.3%(26/99), respectively, all P < 0.01). Transmural LGE was most likely to involve the left ventricular inferior lateral basal (18/21) and mid (13/21) segment, followed by anterior lateral basal (15/21) and mid (11/21) segments and inferior mid segment (9/21). Subepicardial LGE was more likely to occur in the inferior lateral basal (13/19) and mid (16/19) segment, anterior lateral basal (13/19) and mid (15/19) segment, anterior lateral basal (13/19) and mid (15/19) segment, lateral apical (13/19), anterior and inferior mid segment (12/19 and 10/19), and apical segment (15/19 and 10/19). Intermural LGE mostly involved the anterior and inferior basal (19/30, 16/30) and mid (18/30 and 14/30) segment. There were 33 cases of single LGE pattern and 23 cases of multiple LGE pattern. Percent of involved myocardial segments was significantly higher in multiple LGE group than single LGE group (60.9% (154/253) vs. 49.9%(181/363), P = 0.007). Of 130 patients, 23 received heart transplantation, of which 6 patients had septal LGE alone and 17 patients had septal and free wall LGE. The rate of heart transplantation in the latter group was higher (32.1% (17/53)vs. 13.6%(6/44), P=0.034). Conclusions: There are several LGE distribution patterns in left ventricular wall among DCM patients.
Cardiomyopathy, Dilated/diagnostic imaging* ; Contrast Media ; Gadolinium ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke Volume ; Ventricular Function, Left

BACKGROUND: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) has a high mortality rate and is the most common indication for heart transplantation. Our study sought to develop a multiparametric nomogram to assess individualized all-cause mortality or heart transplantation (ACM/HTx) risk in DCM patients. METHODS: The present study is a retrospective cohort study. The demographic, clinical, blood test, and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) data of DCM patients in the tertiary center (Fuwai Hospital) were collected. The primary endpoint was ACM/HTx. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression model was applied for variable selection. Multivariable Cox regression was used to develop a nomogram. The concordance index (C-index), area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), calibration curve, and decision curve analysis (DCA) were used to evaluate the performance of the nomogram. RESULTS: A total of 218 patients were included in the present study. They were randomly divided into a training cohort and a validation cohort. The nomogram was established based on eight variables, including mid-wall late gadolinium enhancement, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, left ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, left ventricular end-diastolic volume index, free triiodothyronine, and N-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide. The AUCs regarding 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year ACM/HTx events were 0.859, 0.831, and 0.840 in the training cohort and 0.770, 0.789, and 0.819 in the validation cohort, respectively. The calibration curve and DCA showed good accuracy and clinical utility of the nomogram. CONCLUSIONS We established and validated a circulating biomarker- and CMRI-based nomogram that could provide a personalized prediction of ACM/HTx for DCM patients, which might help risk stratification and decision-making in clinical practice.
Humans ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated/diagnostic imaging* ; Contrast Media ; Nomograms ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke Volume ; Gadolinium ; Ventricular Function, Left ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Biomarkers ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

OBJECTIVETo explore the imaging and related clinical characteristics of magnetic resonance (MR) delayed enhancement in patients with ischemic or nonischemic heart disease.

METHODSThirty-two cases who underwent MR myocardial cine and delayed enhancement imaging from January 2004 to October 2006 were retrospectively analyzed. The cine sequence imaging included the four-chamber view and the left ventricular short axis view. The delayed enhancement imaging was taken 10 minutes after the infusion of gadolinium from the antecubital vein with a segmented inversion-recovery-prepared T1-weighted fast gradient echo sequence. Patients underwent coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) two weeks before or after the MR imaging examination. Combined with clinical history, the clinical and MR imaging characteristics of the patients who had delayed enhancement were analyzed.

RESULTSMR delayed enhancement could be found in 16 cases. Among them, 12 cases had ischemic heart disease. Their coronary CTA showed one to three vessel diseases. The delayed enhancement was transmural or subendocardium, and the area of delayed enhancement corresponded well with one or more coronary arteries which had severe stenosis or occlusion. Four cases had nonischemic heart diseases. One case was dilated cardiomyopathy, with diffuse small midwall spots in delayed enhancemen and only 30% stenosis of the anterior descending coronary artery in coronary CTA. One case was hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, with delayed enhancement of strip- and patch-shaped at midwall of the hypertrophic myocardium. One case was restrictive cardiomyopathy, and the delayed enhancement was located in the area of subendocardium of both the right and left ventricles. Coronary CTA of these two cases were normal. The other case was a mass of the lateral wall of the left ventricle, and the delayed enhancement with a clumpy shape was located in the lateral wall of the left ventricle.

CONCLUSIONSMR myocardial delayed enhancement is not a specific sign of myocardial infarction of ischemic heart disease. Nonischemic heart diseases including all kinds of primary cardiomyopathy and some other diseases affecting myocardium can also cause delayed enhancement, but their characteristics are different. The differentiation of the etiology of the nonischemic heart disease with delayed enhancement relies upon the intimate connection with clinical history and the cine sequence MR images.

Aged ; Angina Pectoris ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Cardiomyopathy, Restrictive ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Coronary Angiography ; instrumentation ; methods ; Humans ; Image Enhancement ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; instrumentation ; methods

OBJECTIVETo analyze the clinical characteristics of peripartum cardiomyopathy and to evaluate the different factors that influence the prognosis of the peripartum cardiomyopathy.

METHODA retrospective review was undertaken on records of women who were diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy at Peking Union Medical College Hospital between Jan. 1983 and May 1999.

RESULTSDuring the research period, only 16 pregnant women were documented as peripartum cardiomyopathy. Some of the women undertook ultrasonic cardiographic (UCG) examination that showed decreased systolic function. Seven women were complicated with pregnancy induced hypertension. Three died of disseminated intravascular coagulation, embolism and cardiogenic shock respectively.

CONCLUSIONEarly diagnosis of the peripartum cardiomyopathy is extremely important. The UCG can provide helpful information on disease progression or regression.

Adult ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Pre-Eclampsia ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; therapy ; Prognosis ; Puerperal Disorders ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Ultrasonography

BACKGROUNDRecent advances in real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) offer the potential to assess the left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony simultaneously by analyzing the 17 segments time-volume curves. The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility and accuracy of RT3DE for quantitative evaluation of left ventricular systolic synchronicity.

METHODSTwenty-four patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and twenty-five healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. Full volume RT3DE was performed by using Philips IE33 with X3-1 probe. The global and 17-segmental time-volume curves were obtained by the on-line Qlab software (version 4.2). The time to minimal systolic volume in each segment (T(msv)) was taken to derive the following indexes of systolic asynchrony: T(msv) 16-SD, T(msv) 16-Dif, T(msv) 12-SD, T(msv) 12-Dif, T(msv) 6-SD and T(msv) 6-Dif, which meant the standard deviation or the maximal difference of T(msv) among the 16, 12 and 6 segments of the left ventricle respectively. The software also provided with each of the above parameters as a percentage of the cardiac cycle.

RESULTST(msv) 16-SD, T(msv) 12-SD and T(msv) 6-SD were all significantly larger in the DCM group than those of the control group [T(msv) 16-SD: (52.9 +/- 40.6) ms vs (8.8 +/- 6.2) ms; T(msv) 12-SD: (29.5 +/- 30.8) ms vs (6.9 +/- 4.0) ms; T(msv) 6-SD: (28.9 +/- 34.6) ms vs (7.0 +/- 4.7) ms, all P < or = 0.001]. T(msv) 16-Dif, T(msv) 12-Dif and T(msv) 6-Dif were also significantly larger in the DCM group. There were close negative relations between the LVEF determined by RT3DE and each of the indexes of systolic asynchrony, among which the indexes of T(msv)-16-SD% and T(msv)-16-Dif% correlated most closely (r = -0.703 and r = -0.701, respectively). The DCM patients had significantly larger EDV and ESV, with significantly reduced LVEF compared with the healthy subjects.

CONCLUSIONRT3DE provides a simple, useful and unique approach to assess the systolic synchronicity of all the left ventricular segments simultaneously.

Adult ; Aged ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Stroke Volume ; Systole ; Ventricular Function, Left

OBJECTIVETo assess the left ventricular longitudinal rotation (LR) in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

METHODSConventional echocardiography (GE-Vivid7) was performed in 35 healthy subjects and 42 DCM patients. Left atrial diameter was measured by M-mode echocardiography, left ventricular end-systolic, end-diastolic volume and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were calculated by bi-plane simpson's method. The peak velocity during early diastole (Ve) and late diastole (Va) of anterior mitral valve were measured by pulse-waved doppler, and the ratio Ve/Va was calculated. The peak radial systolic strain, strain rate in systolic, early and late diastolic periods were measured. Segmental LR and global LR were assessed using two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (2D-STI).

RESULTSThe peak radial systolic strain, strain rate in systolic, early and late diastolic periods in DCM group were significantly lower than in healthy subjects, the rotation degrees of the middle and base lateral, the apex and the base septum walls were significantly lower than those of the healthy subjects. A prominent counterclockwise LR (0.76° ± 2.63°) was shown in healthy subjects while prominent clockwise LR (-1.58° ± 3.42°) was present in DCM patients. The time delay between the left ventricular lateral wall and the base septum wall in DCM patients significantly correlated with the peak LR of the left ventricular (r = 0.409, P < 0.01; r = 0.396, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS2D-STI can be used to assess the LR in DCM patients and a clockwise LR is present in DCM patients which might be caused by the time delay between the left ventricular lateral wall and the base-septum wall.

Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; physiopathology ; Case-Control Studies ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Diastole ; Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Doppler ; Heart Atria ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans ; Rotation ; Systole ; Ventricular Function, Left

OBJECTIVETo analyze the adverse effects of type B ventricular pre-excitation on ventricular wall motion and left ventricular function and its clinical characteristic.

METHODThe clinical, electrophysiological and echocardiographic characteristics of the 9 cases with type B ventricular pre-excitation before and after ablation seen between March 2011 and March 2013 were analyzed. The patients aged from 3 to 16 years. Five of them were female.

RESULTDyschronous left ventricular contraction was demonstrated by M-Mode echocardiography in all of the cases. The basal segments of the interventricular septum turned thin and moved in a manner similar to that of an aneurysm, with typical bulging during end-systole, which was observed in six cases. All patients received successful RFCAs. The locations of the accessory pathways (APs) were the right-sided anteroseptum (n = 2) and the free wall (n = 7). Their physical activities and growth improved greatly in the four cases with coexisting dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The echocardiographic data demonstrated that their LV contraction recovered to synchrony shortly after the ablation, LVEF recovered to normal and LVED decreased to almost normal gradually during the follow-up.

CONCLUSIONOvert right-sided APs may have adverse effects on ventricular wall motion and left ventricular function. They can even result in DCM. Dyssynchronous ventricular contraction induced by right-sided overt accessory pathway may be the vital mechanism. Such kinds of cases are indication for ablation with good prognosis.

Adolescent ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; diagnostic imaging ; etiology ; physiopathology ; Catheter Ablation ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Echocardiography ; Female ; Heart Ventricles ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Male ; Myocardial Contraction ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Left ; diagnostic imaging ; etiology ; physiopathology ; Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome ; complications ; physiopathology