Assessment of the left ventricular myocardium function of hypertension with normal left ventricular geometry using speckle tracking imaging

Objective: To evaluate the value of speckle tracking imaging (STI) in assessing left ventricular myocardium function of hypertension patients with  normal left ventricular geometry. Methods : Forty hypertension Patients with normal filling (group A), 40 with abnormal relaxation (group B) and 30 normal controls (group NC) were studied. The global Peak systolic longitudinal strain rate, the mean Peak early diastolic longitudinal strain rate and the mean peak LV systolic longitudinal strain rate during atrial systole of whole-layer myocardium and subendomyocardium were measured. twist at aortic valve closure, twist at mitral valve opening, untwisting rate and twisting half-time of left ventricular were calculated. Results :  Compared with those in group NC, the patients in group A had lower values of subendomyocardium GSrL S, but higher values of subendomyocardium GSrL A ( P <0.05), group A and group B had higher values of MV-Prot, AP-Prot,lower values of UntwRand HTU increased ( P <0.05). Compared with group A, AP-Prot increased in group B ( P <0.05), but UntwR decreased ( P <0.05). Conclusion :  STI is of great value in quantitative analysis of the left ventricle myocardium function through detecting the subendomyocardium global peak systolic longitudinal strain rate and twisting parameters with essential hypertension. It is also a useful tool to assess the early damage of left ventricle myocardium in patients.