Myocardial strain decreases with increasing transmurality of infarction: a Doppler echocardiographic and magnetic resonance correlation study

Abstract

Background: Regional abnormalities in myocardial systolic function can be detected with myocardial strain measurements derived from Doppler tissue echocardiography. We studied longitudinal strain measurements in patients with evidence of myocardial infarction by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging to determine whether end-systolic strain could identify the severity of the infarction.

Methods: A total of 20 patients with chronic myocardial infarctions and 10 healthy volunteers underwent 2-dimensional echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance with delayed gadolinium (Gd) gadopentetate dimeglumine (DTPA) contrast hyperenhancement. Delayed Gd hyperenhancement was graded using the following scale: 0 = none, 1 = less than 25%, 2 = 26% to 50%, 3 = 51% to 75%, and 4 = greater than 75%.

Results: There was a progressive decrease in peak systolic strain in the infarct segments as the transmural extent of infarction increased. When compared with the peak systolic strain in remote segments without evidence of infarction (-19.7 +/- 0.9), the strain was significantly lower in segments with greater than 25% Gd hyperenhancement (grade 2, -14.8 +/- 1.1, P = .001; grade 3, -12.9 +/- 2.1, P = .001; grade 4, -9.1 +/- 2.0, P < .001).

Conclusions: In patients with chronic myocardial infarctions, strain measurements with echocardiography show a graded response of decreasing regional strain in segments with increasing transmural extent of infarction defined by Gd hyperenhancement.