Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Nov 18;76(1):151.
doi: 10.1186/s43044-024-00578-z.

Myocardial deformation in children post cardiac surgery, a cross-sectional prospective study

Mohammad Ahmad Hassan  1   2 , Ali Al-Akhfash  3 , Yasser Bhat  3 , Abdullah Alqwaiee  3 , Mohammed Abdulrashed  3 , Saad Saleh Almarshud  3 , Abdulrahman Almesned  3
Affiliations

Myocardial deformation in children post cardiac surgery, a cross-sectional prospective study

Mohammad Ahmad Hassan et al. Egypt Heart J. .

Abstract

Background: Myocardial deformation by speckle tracking echocardiography provides valuable information on the left ventricular function. The study aims to assess myocardial deformation in terms of left ventricular strain as an indicator of myocardial function in children after cardiac surgery at outpatient follow-up visits.

Methods: The study design was a prospective observational cross-sectional study that included pediatric patients after biventricular cardiac surgery during the postoperative follow-up visits in the outpatient department. In addition to conventional echocardiographic examination, two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography was done to evaluate myocardial deformation in terms of left ventricular strain. Echocardiographic measurements were done offline and were compared to published reference normal values for age. Study subjects were divided according to age at follow-up into four groups (1 month-1 year, 1-2 years, 2-5 years, and 5-11 years).

Results: Over ten months, 100 patients (64 males and 36 females) were included in the study. The median age was 30.8 months (IQR 12.8-65.3 months), the median weight was 11.7 kg (IQR 8-17 kg) and the median duration after surgery was 7.3 months (IQR 3.2-30.8 months). Longitudinal strain values were significantly (p < 0.001) lower than reference values for different age groups. Global circumferential strain showed no significant difference from the reference values. The duration after surgery had a statistically significant effect on longitudinal strain values, with improvement of the strain values with increasing intervals after surgery.

Conclusion: Using myocardial deformation method to evaluate cardiac function may detect underlying cardiac function abnormalities even with normal traditional functional parameters, which could have implications for patient management and follow-up.

Keywords: Cardiac function; Cardiac surgery; Congenital heart disease; Myocardial strain.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate The research study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Qassim Regional Research Ethics Committee approved the study under reference number 607/44/10173. Informed written consent from parents/guardians was provided by all participants. Consent was taken for participation and anonymous use of data for research purposes and publication. Consent for publication Detailed informed written consent was taken from the parents/guardians for the echocardiographic study. Consent includes that the data could be used anonymously for research purposes and publication. Competing interests All authors have no conflict of interest relevant to this article to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Myocardial strain measurements. The upper panel shows automated tracking of the region of interest at the short-axis mid-ventricular level on the left and the apical four-chamber level on the right. The lower panel shows corresponding 18-segment strain measurements
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Mean global longitudinal (A) and circumferential (B) strain ± standard deviation at postoperative intervals during the first year after surgery
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Geyer H, Caracciolo G, Abe H, Wilansky S, Carerj S, Gentile F et al (2010) Assessment of myocardial mechanics using speckle tracking echocardiography: fundamentals and clinical applications. J Am Soc Echocardiogr 23:351–369. 10.1016/J.ECHO.2010.02.015 - PubMed
    1. Levy P, Sanchez MA, Machefsky A, Fowler S, Holland M, Singh G (2016) Reference ranges of left ventricular strain measures by two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Am Soc Echocardiogr 29:209–225. 10.1016/j.echo.2015.11.016.Reference - PMC - PubMed
    1. Greenbaum RA, Ho SY, Gibson DG, Becker AE, Anderson RH (1981) Left ventricular fiber architecture in man. Br Heart J 45:248. 10.1136/HRT.45.3.248 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Buckberg G, Hoffman JIE, Mahajan A, Saleh S, Coghlan C (2008) Cardiac mechanics revisited: the relationship of cardiac architecture to ventricular function. Circulation 118(24):2571–2587. 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.754424 - PubMed
    1. Bussadori C, Moreo A, Di Donato M, De Chiara B, Negura D, Dall’Aglio E, Lobiati E, Chessa M, Arcidiacono C, Dua JS, Mauri F, Carminati M (2009) A new 2D-based method for myocardial velocity strain and strain rate quantification in a normal adult and paediatric population: assessment of reference values. Cardiovasc Ultrasound. 10.1186/1476-7120-7-8 - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources