Quantitative evaluation of systolic and diastolic function of myocardium in hypertension and coronary artery disease with or without left ventricular hypertrophy by tissue doppler imaging

Objective The aim of this study was to assess left ventricular systolic and diastolic function, using Doppler tissue imaging (DTI), in hypertension or coronary artery disease patients with or without left ventricular hypertrophy, and to evaluate the accuracy of assessing left ventricular diastolic function by DTI.Methods We investigated 15 age-matched healthy subjects, 30 patients with hypertension with (n=15) or without (n=15) left ventricular hypertrophy,and 33 patients suffering from coronary artery disease with (n=15) or without (n=18) left ventricular hypertrophy by DTI. Mitral pulse-wave Doppler E/A ratio, Mitral annular myocardial tissue isovolumic peak systolic velocity (Vs), early diastolic peak velocity (Ve), and peak late diastolic velocity (Va), were obtained. Pigtail catheter was directly used to measure LVEDP.Results Compared with control group, Ve/Va and E/A were significantly reduced significantly in hypertension and coronary artery disease group (P0.05); There were no significantly differences in Ve/Va and E/A between CAD with LVH and hypertension with LVH. Compared with hypertension with non-LVH group, Ve/Va and E/A were reduced in CAD with non-LVH group (P0.05). Vs in the CAD group was significantly lower than that in the control group and hypertension group (P0.05), whereas Vs was not significantly different between the control group and hypertension group (P0.05). Ve/Va showed better correlation with LVEDP than E/A.Conclusion Left ventricular diastolic function is reduced in hypertension and CAD patients with or without left ventricular hypertrophy, However, lower left ventricular systolic function is only found in patients with CAD. DTI is a good way to evaluate left ventricular diastolic function.