Doppler tissue imaging for quantitatively diagnosing anterior myocardial infarction and estimating left ventricular diastolic function

Objective This study was performed to evaluate the clinical value of Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) system in patients with anterior myocardial infarction (AMI) and estimate the segmental and whole diastolic function in such patients.Methods Left ventricular wall motions in 30 patients with AMI were assessed.The data were recorded from six walls and twelve segments of left ventricule;mitral annular diastolic velocity profile was detected by DTI,and compared with mitral inflow Doppler velocity.Results In patients with AMI,systolic and early diastolic peak velocities of infarction segments were significantly lower than those in normal subjects,so was the early diastolic peak velocity of mitral annulus.The E to A ratio of mitral inflow correlated very closely with the ratio Eann/Aann velocities.Conclusion These results demonstrated that DTI could accurately represent tissue velocity and provide a method to detect myocardial infarction;DTI can assess left ventricular diastolic function,it is a new easy and reliable quantitative method to assess cardiac function.