Hassan Mohammad Ahmad, Al-Akhfash Ali, Bhat Yasser, Alqwaiee Abdullah, Abdulrashed Mohammed, Almarshud Saad Saleh, Almesned Abdulrahman
PSCCQ: Prince Sultan Cardiac Center in Qassim, Buraidah, Saudi Arabia.
Pediatric department, Faculty of Medicine, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt.
Egypt Heart J. 2024 Nov 18;76(1):151. doi: 10.1186/s43044-024-00578-z.
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.
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).
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.
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.
斑点追踪超声心动图测量的心肌形变可提供有关左心室功能的有价值信息。本研究旨在评估门诊随访时儿童心脏手术后左心室应变形式的心肌形变，以此作为心肌功能的指标。
本研究设计为前瞻性观察性横断面研究，纳入了门诊术后随访期间接受双心室心脏手术的儿科患者。除了常规超声心动图检查外，还进行了二维斑点追踪超声心动图检查，以根据左心室应变评估心肌形变。超声心动图测量在离线状态下进行，并与已发表的各年龄组参考正常值进行比较。研究对象根据随访时的年龄分为四组（1个月至1岁、1至2岁、2至5岁和5至11岁）。
在十个月的时间里，100名患者（64名男性和36名女性）纳入了研究。中位年龄为30.8个月（四分位间距12.8 - 65.3个月），中位体重为11.7千克（四分位间距8 - 17千克），术后中位时间为7.3个月（四分位间距3.2 - 30.8个月）。纵向应变值显著低于不同年龄组的参考值（p < 0.001）。整体圆周应变与参考值无显著差异。术后时间对纵向应变值有统计学显著影响，随着术后时间间隔增加，应变值有所改善。
使用心肌形变方法评估心脏功能，即使传统功能参数正常，也可能检测到潜在的心脏功能异常，这可能对患者管理和随访有影响。
