Objective To evaluate the application of echocardiography in the diagnosis of bicuspid aortic valve and its pathophysiologic development and to demonstrate the degree of aortic valve dysfunction. Methods The echocardiographic characteristics and clinical data were analyzed retrospectively in 135 patients with bicuspid aortic valve to demonstrate the variation of aortic valve dysfunction in the progression of the course of the disease. Results Isolated aortic regurgitation was present in 68 (50%) patients, 19 (14%)patients had isolated aortic stenosis and 29 (22%)patients had combined aortic stenosis and regurgitation, 19 (14%) patients had neither stenosis nor regurgitation. Aortic regurgitation were all more commen within each age group, aortic regurgitation were also more commen within each age group in patients in their advanced course who went to surgical treatment. Conclusions Echocardiography is an effective method in the early diagnosis of aortic valve dysfunction.

Objective To evaluate the features of carotid atherosclerotic plaques on ultrasonographic elastography. Methods A total of 45 atherosclerotie plaques of the carotid artery in 33 patients were found with routine ultrasonography, all the 45 atherosclerotic plaques were divided into soft plaque, fibrous plaque, mixed plaque and calcified plaque. The elastograms of the plaques were oberseved and the strain contrast(stiffness ratio) of blood tissue in common carotid artery to plaques were calculated. Results Seventeen soft plaques, 15 mixed plaques and 13 calcified plaques were founded using routine ultrasonography, but 0 fibrous plaques were founded. The soft plaques were shown in green, the mixed plaques were showen as mosaic of green and blue and the calcified plaques were showen in blue by ultrasonographic elastography. The strain contrast in patients with calcified plaques and mixed plaques were significantly higher when compared with the soft plaques group(P 0. 001, P <0.05). The strain contrast in patients with calcified plaques was significantly higher than the mixed plaques group (P < 0.001). Conclusions Ultrasonographie elastography could be used in carotid arteries atherosclerotic plaques. Various of acoustic characteristics plaques has different elastography and strain contrast.

Objective To assess the myocardial strain in patients with coronary artery disease by two dimensional strain echocardiography.Methods Forty-three patients with coronary artery disease and thirty five healthy subjects were included.High frame rate two-dimensional images were recorded from the left ventricular short-axis views at the levels of mitral annulus,papillary muscle and apex,and the apical four chamber view,two-chamber view and long-axis view of the left ventricle respectively.The longitudinal strain was measured in the apical views,radial strain and circumferential strain were measured in the left ventricular short-axis views using two-dimensional strain software.Results There were 96 segments whose flow was provided by coronary artery with stenosis＜75%,147 segments whose flow was provided by coronary artery with stenosis≥75%.The peak systolic longitudinal strain of different segments in patients with stenosis≥75% significantly reduced when compared with the control group(P＜0.05).The peak systolic radial strain and circumferential strain of different segments in patients with stenosis≥75% had no statistical difference compared with the control group(P＞0.05).When taking peak systolic longitudinal strain≥-16.1% as cut-off value for coronary artery stenosis of≥75%,the sensitivity and specificity were 78.7% and 76.4% respectively.There was no significant difference in systolic longitudinal strain,radial strain and circumferential strain between normal myocardium and stenosis＜75%(P＞0.05).Conclusions Although there are no evident regional wall motion abnormalities by two dimensional echocardiography,in patients with severe coronary artery stenosis,the longitudinal strain which can reflect the subendocardial myocardial function significantly reduced.

Objective To evaluate the dyssynchrony of left ventricle in patients with coronary artery disease(CAD) by two-dimensional strain echocardiography (2-DS). Methods The myocardium of left ventricle of 33 patients with CAD and 30 nomal controls were detected by 2-DS. The time from onset QRS complexes to peak systolic longitudinal strain(Ts) and the standard deviation of Ts of 18 left ventricular segments (Ts-SD)were measured. Results There were 168 segments whose flow was provided by coronary artery with stenosis≤75% ,210 segments whose flow was provided by coronary artery with stenosis 75 %. ①Ts was delayed significantly and Ts-SD was obviously higher in patients with stenosis≥75% when compared with the control group. ②Ts was delayed and Ts-SD was higher in patients with stenosis≥75% compared with those whose stenosis was ≤75%. ③There were no statistical differences in Ts and Ts-SD between the patients with stenosis ≤75% and the control group. ④When left ventricular systolic dyssynchrony was defined as Ts-SD≥33.0 ms, there were 22 patients with systolic dyssynchrony of all 26 patients whose coronary artery stenosis≥75%, there were no patient with systolic dyssynchrony of all 7 patients whose stenosis ≤75%. Conclusions Although there are no evident regional wall motion abnormalities by routine echocardiography,in patients with severe coronary artery stenosis,2-DS can detect exactly the dyssynchrony of left ventricle.

Objective To access the left ventricular sysytolic function in children at acute stage of Kawasaki disease using speckle-tracing imaging. Methods Two-dimensional echocardiograghic images of 27 patients and 19 normals were collected in apical long-axis view, two-champer view, four-champer view, short-axis views at the levels of mitral annulus, papillary muscle and apex. The systolic peak values of longitudinal strain, radial strain and circumferential strain were measured by speckle-tracking imaging. Results Compared with controls the values of longitudinal strain and radial strain are lower in most segments in patients(P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between the patients and controls in circumferential strain(P>0.05). Longitudinal strain and radial strain measured were lower in 8 patients with coronary ectasia(including 7 cass with coronary artery aneurysms in vessels) than other 19 patients,but the two groups have no significant differences(P>0.05). Conclusions Long-axis and short-axis function of the heart decreased regardless of coronary artery ectasia.

Objective To evaluate the dyssynchrony of left ventricle in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy by two-dimensional speckle-tracking strain (2DS) and tissue velocity imaging (TVI).Methods Study population consisted of 37 dilated cardiomyopathy patients. High frame rate two-dimensional images were recorded from the left ventricular short-axis views at the levels of mitral annulus,papillary muscles and apex, and the apical four-chamber view, two-chamber view and long-axis of the left ventricle. The time to peak myocardial longitudinal systolic velocity was measured by TVI, 2DS was acquired to measure the time to peak radial strain in the short axis and the time to peak longitudinal strain inthe long axis,left ventricular synchronization index (△T) was defined as the difference of the time to peak value between anterior septum and posterior wall. Results △T measured by 2DS on the long axis and the short axis increased significantly compared with TVI(P<0.01) in the basal segment; 2DS on the short axis had a more significantly increased △T than TVI(P<0.01) in the middle segment. △T measured by 2DS on the short axis significantly increased in the basal and middle segment compared with 2DS on the long axis(P<0.05). Dyssynchrony eases and the detection rate of dyssynchrony measured by 2DS on the long axis were significantly higher than 2DS on the short axis and TVI(P<0.01). Dyssynchrony cases and the detection rate measured by 2DS on the short axis were higher than those measured by TVI, but the difference had no statistical significance. Conclusions The dyssynchrony detection rate measured by longitudinal strain of 2DS is significantly higher than TVI and radial strain.

The myocardial viability after myocardial infarction was evaluated by intravenous myocardial contrast echocardiography. Intravenous real-time myocardial contrast echocardiography was performed on 18 patients with myocardial infarction before coronary revascularization. Follow-up echocardiography was performed 3 months after coronary revascularization. Segmental wall motion was assessed using 18-segment LV model and classified as normal, hypokinesis, akinesis and dyskinesis. Viable myocardium was defined by evident improvement of segmental wall motion 3 months after coronary revascularization. Myocardial perfusion was assessed by visual interpretation and divided into 3 conditions: homogeneous opacification; partial or reduced opaciflcation or subendocardial contrast defect; contrast defect. The former two conditions were used as the standard to define the viable myocardium. The results showed that 109 abnormal wall motion segments were detected among 18 patients with myocardial infarction, including 47 segments of hypokinesis, 56 segments of akinesis and 6 segments of dyskinesis. The wall motion of 2 segments with hypokinesis before coronary revascularization which showed homogeneous opacification, 14 of 24 segments with hypokinese and 20 of 24 segments with akinese before coronary revascularization which showed partial or reduced opaciflcation or subendocardial contrast defect was improved 3 months after coronary revascularization. In our study, the sensitivity and specificity of evaluation of myocardial viability after myocardial infarction by intravenous real-time myocardial contrast echocardiography were 94.7% and 78.9%, respectively. It was concluded that intravenous real-time myocardial contrast echocardiography could accurately evaluate myocardial viability after myocardial infarction.
Angioplasty, Transluminal, Percutaneous Coronary ; Cell Survival ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Echocardiography/*methods ; Models, Statistical ; Myocardial Infarction/*pathology ; Myocardial Infarction/*ultrasonography ; Myocardial Revascularization ; Myocardium/*pathology ; Perfusion ; Time Factors

Objective:To analyze the influencing factors of community hospice care service needs of the elderly based on structural equation model.Methods:A multi-stage sampling method was used to survey 564 elderly people from 40 community health service centers in four districts of Chaoyang District in Beijing from September to November 2020 with a self-designed questionnaire. The survey content included three dimensions: tendency characteristics (population characteristics, health beliefs), enabling resources and demand factors. The chi-square test and rank sum test were used to analyze the influencing factors of the community hospice care needs of the elderly. At the same time, based on Anderson theory, structural equation model was used to analyze the action path and effect size of the influencing factors.Results:Registered residence, occupation, understanding of community elderly care services, recognition of community medical convenience, recognition of community health services in reducing family burden, recognition of community health services in improving their own health, understanding of community hospice care services, mean monthly income of their families, degree of income satisfaction, self-paid medical expenses of the previous year, living status, acceptance of community medical expenses, satisfaction with the number of community medical staff, self-assessment of health status, whether the elderly was ill in the last two weeks and the number of chronic diseases and etc affected the needs of the elderly for community hospice care services (all P<0.05). In the three dimensions of Anderson model, enabling resources had a direct effect, and could also be affected by demand factors indirectly, the total effect value was 0.404; demand factors had direct impact, and the effect value was 0.193; propensity characteristics exerted impact indirectly through enabling resources and demand factors, and the total effect value was 0.176. Among them, the acceptance of community health service fees in the enabling resource dimension has the greatest impact (FL=0.535), the number of chronic disease in the demand factor dimension had the greatest impact (FL=1.018), and the recognition of community health service in reducing family burden in the propensity characteristic dimension had the greatest impact (FL=0.612) (all P<0.05). Conclusions:There are various factors and action paths that affect the needs of community hospice care services for the elderly. Among them, the acceptance of community health service fees, the number of chronic disease, and the recognition of community health service in reducing family burden have a greater impact.

The present study evaluated the application of three dimensional echocardigraphy (3DE) in the diagnosis of atrial septal defect (ASD) and the measurement of its size by 3DE and compared the size with surgical findings. Two-dimensional and real-time three dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) was performed in 26 patients with atrial septal defect, and the echocardiographic data were compared with the surgical findings. Significant correlation was found between defect diameter by RT3DE and that measured during surgery (r=0.77, P<0.001). The defect area changed significantly during cardiac cycle. Percentage change in defect size during cardiac cycle ranged from 6%-70%. Our study showed that the size and morphology of atrial septal defect obtained with RT3DE correlate well with surgical findings. Therefore, RT3DE is a feasible and accurate non-invasive imaging tool for assessment of atrial septal size and dynamic changes.
Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial/*diagnosis ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial/*pathology ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial/surgery ; Young Adult

The myocardial viability after myocardial infarction was evaluated by intravenous myocardial contrast echocardiography. Intravenous real-time myocardial contrast echocardiography was performed on 18 patients with myocardial infarction before coronary revascularization. Follow-up echocardiography was performed 3 months after coronary revascularization. Segmental wall motion was assessed using 18-segment LV model and classified as normal, hypokinesis, akinesis and dyskinesis. Viable myocardium was defined by evident improvement of segmental wall motion 3 months after coronary revascularization. Myocardial perfusion was assessed by visual interpretation and divided into 3 conditions: homogeneous opacification; partial or reduced opaciflcation or subendocardial contrast defect; contrast defect. The former two conditions were used as the standard to define the viable myocardium. The results showed that 109 abnormal wall motion segments were detected among 18 patients with myocardial infarction, including 47 segments of hypokinesis, 56 segments of akinesis and 6 segments of dyskinesis. The wall motion of 2 segments with hypokinesis before coronary revascularization which showed homogeneous opacification, 14 of 24 segments with hypokinese and 20 of 24 segments with akinese before coronary revascularization which showed partial or reduced opaciflcation or subendocardial contrast defect was improved 3 months after coronary revascularization. In our study, the sensitivity and specificity of evaluation of myocardial viability after myocardial infarction by intravenous real-time myocardial contrast echocardiography were 94.7% and 78.9%, respectively. It was concluded that intravenous real-time myocardial contrast echocardiography could accurately evaluate myocardial viability after myocardial infarction.