Study of left ventricular layered myocardial strain in patients with essential hypertension using speckle tracking imaging

Objective:To evaluate the left ventricular systolic function with the peak systolic strain of the inner and outer layers of myocardium measured by speckle tracking imaging(STI) in essential hypertension(EH) patients with different patterns of left ventricular hypertrophic(LVH) geometric models.Method:STI was performed in 109 subjects including 56 patients with EH and 53 normal controls.Fifty-six patients were divided into two subgroups according to left ventricular mass index(LVMI)(group A: 30 patients with NLVH,group B: 26 patients with LVH).Longitudinal and radial strain in the inner and outer layers of myocardium was measured in the left ventricular long-axis and short-axis views using STI software.Result:The peak systolic longitudinal strain values of the inner and outer layers of myocardium in subgroup B were reduced significantly compared with those in the control group(inner layers: P0.01,outer layers: P0.05).The peak systolic radial strain values of the inner and outer layers of myocardium in group A and group B at level of the mitral annulus were higher than those in the control group(P0.05). Conclusion:The higher radial strain compensates the lower longitudinal strain.STI has the potentiability to be used non-invasively in clinics to evaluate the left ventricular systolic function in a whole or in local region in patients of EH with different models.