| Objective: To investigate the influence of ambulatory blood pressure (BP) profile on regional left ventricular (LV) systolic function in essential hypertensive patients by strain rate imaging (SRI).Methods: 103 orderly treated essential hypertensive patients with preserved LV ejection fraction (LVEF>55%) and 29 normal subjects were included in the study. The patients were divided into two groups with respect to ambulatory BP profiles as 48 dippers and 55 nondippers. They were studied by two-dimensional echocardiography and SRI.Results: There were no significant differences between dippers and nondippers with respect to 24-hour and daytime average systolic and diastolic BP(P>0.05). But nighttime average systolic and diastolic BP had significantly higher in nondipping group than in dipping group(P<0.01). The three groups had similar LVEF(P>0.05). Compare with the normal group, the basic and middle segments in anterior interventricular septum and the basic segment in lateral wall of dipping group had significantly lower LV myocardial systolic strain rate (LV S-Sr) (P<0.05). Meanwhile all the segments of nondippers had significantly lower LV S-Sr than the normal subjects and dippers (P<0.05).Conclusions: Although LV global systolic function was preserved in dippers and nondippers, the nondipping profile may be associated with LV myocardial dysfunction which is reflected by LV regional systolic dysfunction. SRI assesses LV regional myocardial systolic function change by detecting myocardial deformation. S-Sr of wall can be an important marker of quantitative evaluation of myocardial damage severity and provide a new way for the clinical evaluation of hypertensive patients with LV regional systolic function.
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