Use of Tissue Doppler Imaging following Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery

This study assessed the effect of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) on myocardial systolic functions using tissue Doppler imaging (TDI). Fourteen patients (three women and 11 men) who had undergone isolated coronary bypass surgery were included in the study. Their mean age was 61 +/- 8 years. TDI systolic velocity measures were obtained from four different sites on the left ventricular wall (anterior, septal, lateral and inferior) at the papillary muscle level in the parasternal short axis view before CABG, and then at 1 and 6 weeks post-operatively. There were significant increases in the myocardial wall velocities at all left ventricular sites 1 week after CABG. This increase persisted to week 6 after CABG, but the velocities were lower than week 1 values. We conclude that the ischaemic myocardium responded to surgical revascularization with marked increases in myocardial segmental systolic velocities in the early post-operative period.