Key result
Comprehensive echocardiography revealed signs of impaired heart function, including significantly reduced left ventricular global longitudinal strain, in patients with a high PVC burden despite normal standard echocardiograms.
Why the study?
It was unclear whether comprehensive echocardiography could identify pathological findings in patients with a high burden of PVCs who have normal standard echocardiograms.
Does comprehensive echocardiography identify signs of impaired heart function in patients with high PVC burden and normal standard echocardiography compared to healthy controls?
Case-Control (n=62)
Single-blind
No
Does comprehensive echocardiography identify signs of impaired heart function in patients with high PVC burden and normal standard echocardiography compared to healthy controls?
Comprehensive echocardiography can detect subtle signs of impaired cardiac function in patients with a high PVC burden who otherwise have normal standard echocardiograms.
Background: The prevalence and prognosis of premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) among individuals without structural heart disease are uncertain. Standard transthoracic echocardiography is a common method in evaluation of underlying cardiovascular disease and is recommended as a diagnostic method in PVC patients. However, it is unclear whether comprehensive echocardiographic examination can identify pathological findings in PVC patients with a normal standard echocardiogram. Method: We included forty consecutive patients with a high PVC burden (>10,000 PVCs/day) and normal findings at a standard echocardiogram and exercise test. All subjects were investigated by a comprehensive echocardiographic examination using parameters usually not included in a routine work-up. We compared the results with 22 age and sex-matched controls. Results: In six additional parameters-global longitudinal strain, right ventricular strain, septal-lateral delay, ventricular-arterial coupling, integrated backscatter and left atrial activation time-a statistically significant difference was shown between PVC patients and controls. Among these parameters, global longitudinal strain had a high reliability between operators. Conclusions: Despite normal findings at standard echocardiography, the PVC group showed signs of impaired heart function when more comprehensive echocardiography parameters were used.
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Scorza et al. (2022) conducted a case-control in High burden of premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) (n=62). Comprehensive transthoracic echocardiography vs. Healthy controls was evaluated on Left Ventricular Global Longitudinal Strain (%) (p=0.01). Comprehensive echocardiography revealed signs of impaired heart function, including significantly reduced left ventricular global longitudinal strain, in patients with a high PVC burden despite normal standard echocardiograms.
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