A Pilot Study Of Myocardial Ischemia In Coronary Artery Disease Patients Using Ultrasonic Speckle Tracking Imaging

BackgroungSpeckle tracking is an novel echocardiographic method based on tracking of characteristic speckle patterns created by interference of ultrasound beams in the myocardium. As the tracking is based on grayscale B-mode images, it is in principle angle independent. It could be used to assess the longitudinal, radial, circumferential, rotational motion of the heart.ObjectiveUsing ultrasonic speckle tracking imaging(STI) to detect the movement of ischemic myocardium in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients.MethodsThirty-five consecutive patients with CAD and thirty-five normal control subjects were enrolled in the study. Longitudinal peak strain and radial displacement of left ventricular walls were measured . The parameters in segments supplied by narrowed coronary arteries of CAD (narrowed segments) and in corresponding normal segments of controls (normal segments) were compared.Results Longitudinal peak strain in 16/18 narrowed segments reduced significantly than those in normal segments. Radial displacement in 12/18 narrowed segments reduced significantly than those in normal segments.ConclusionsUltrasonic speckle tracking imaging could be used to detect the reduce of the longitudinal peak strain and radial displacement in CAD patients.