Full Text | PDF

Int J Med Sci 2022; 19(10):1576-1585. doi:10.7150/ijms.75781 This issue Cite

Research Paper

Association of left ventricular global area strain derived from resting 3D speckle-tracking echocardiography and exercise capacity in individuals undergoing treadmill exercise test

Tsang-Wei Chang, MD¹, Han-Chung Hsu, MD², Wei-Chuan Tsai, MD^2,3✉

1. Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, National, Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
2. Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kuo General, Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan.
3. Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, National, Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.

✉ Corresponding author: Wei-Chuan Tsai, MD. Professor of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital and Medical College, 138 Sheng-Li Road, Tainan 704, Taiwan. Tel.: +886-6-2353535, ext.: 2388; Fax: +886-6-2753834; E-mail: wctsainet.tw.

Abstract

Background: Left ventricular (LV) global area strain (GAS) is a novel index derived from resting 3D speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE), and its clinical significance has rarely been studied. We examined the association of LV GAS and exercise capacity in a health check-up population.

Methods: We recruited 94 symptom-free participants (52.2 ± 11.7 years, 62.8% male) without substantial structural heart disease or coronary heart diseases who were undergoing a routine health examination. All participants underwent resting echocardiography and symptom-limited treadmill exercise test according to the Bruce protocol. Four strain parameters were obtained from the analysis, namely 3D GAS (GAS3d), global longitudinal strain, global circumferential strain, and global radial strain.

Results: After multivariate analysis for factors of exercise time, we observed a significant association in LV GAS3d (P < 0.001). We divided participants into preserved and impaired exercise capacity groups according to the cutoff value of 8 metabolic equivalent of tasks. LV GAS3d (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.10-1.39, P < 0.001) was an independent predictor of impaired exercise capacity and the optimal cut-off value was -19.96% at a sensitivity of 77.8% and at a specificity of 92.1%. LV GAS3d could improve the discriminatory power of exercise capacity in individuals with early mitral filling velocity to average mitral annulus velocity ratio (E/e') ≥ 8.

Conclusions: LV GAS3d was significantly associated with exercise time and exhibited incremental predictive value on E/e' for exercise capacity in participants undergoing treadmill exercise test.

Keywords: global area strain, 3D speckle tracking echocardiography, exercise capacity

Citation styles

©2024 Ivyspring International Publisher. Terms of use