Do LV mitral annulus velocities measured by tissue Doppler imaging correlate with plasma NT-proBNP levels in patients with heart failure?
Early diastolic mitral annulus velocity measured by TDI correlates strongly with plasma NT-proBNP levels, providing a simple echocardiographic index of heart failure severity.
Abstract Background It has been shown that pulsed wave tissue Doppler velocities of mitral annulus correlate well with left ventricular (LV) diastolic and systolic functions. It is not yet clear whether these velocities can be used to estimate left ventricular dysfunction in an unselected population of patients with clinical signs and symptoms of heart failure (HF). Aim To determine whether LV mitral annulus velocities measured by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) correlate with plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels in patients with HF. Methods and results Early diastolic (Em) and systolic (Sm) TDI velocities of septal and lateral mitral annulus were measured in 50 patients with HF together with other conventional echocardiographic parameters, and compared with plasma NT-proBNP levels. Significant correlations were found between NT-proBNP level and Em velocity (r=−0.79), Sm velocity (r=−0.43), early transmitral to Em velocity ratio (r=0.38), LV end diastolic diameter (r=0.29), LV ejection fraction (r=−0.44) and tricuspid regurgitant velocity (r=0.31). In multiple regression model (R2=0.733), the Em velocity was the most important predictor of NT-proBNP level. Conclusions Early diastolic mitral annulus velocity measured by TDI correlates strongly with plasma NT-proBNP levels, and provides a simple, accurate and reproducible echocardiographic index of heart failure.
Tretjak et al. (Thu,) studied this question.