The role of myocardial work in evaluating coronary microcirculation of STEMI patients after percutaneous coronary intervention

Usability of myocardial work parameters in demonstrating myocardial involvement in INOCA patients

BACKGROUND

Myocardial work (MW) is a novel echocardiographic modality, which has been shown to have diagnostic and prognostic values in patients with cardiovascular diseases, patients with obstructive coronary artery disease, in particular. However, only a handful of studies have examined the MW analysis in ischemia with nonobstructive coronary artery (INOCA) disease. This study, therefore, aimed to detect the early left ventricular involvement in INOCA patients diagnosed by an invasive coronary angiography performing the MW analysis.

METHODS

This study included a total of 119 patients with nonobstructive coronary artery disease diagnosed by invasive coronary angiography, who were checked for prior ischemia tests performing myocardial perfusion scintigraphy. Out of these 119 patients, 49 patients developed ischemia (i.e., ischemic group) diagnosed using cardiac single-photon emission computed tomography, whereas 70 patients did not (i.e., nonischemic group). The subjects were divided into three groups based on the global MW tertiles. The groups were compared in terms of the conventional, longitudinal strain, and MW findings by conducting echocardiographic examinations.

RESULTS

The study subjects were divided into three groups based on the global constrictive work (GCW) value. The three groups were not statistically different in terms of the mean age of the patients (53.0 ± 12 vs. 52.4 ± 13.3 vs. 52.1 ± 12.3; p = 0.96). Furthermore, the three groups were not statistically different regarding the gender, height, weight, and laboratory parameters of the patients except albumin. There was no statistically difference among the tertiles of GCW groups in the measurements of cardiac chambers, LA diameter, interventricular septum, E wave, and A wave. Also, there was no statistical difference in tissue Doppler recordings. The parameters associated with MW were examined, three groups were not statistically different in terms of the global waste work (GWW) (116 ± 92, 122 ± 73, 135 ± 62, p = 0.52, respectively). In contrast, the three groups were different regarding the Global work index (GWI) (1716 ± 300, 1999 ± 130, 2253 ± 195, p < 0.001, respectively), GCW (1888 ± 206, 2298 ± 75, 2614 ± 155, p < 0.001, respectively), and Global work efficiency parameters (92.8 ± 3.6, 94.4 ± 3.2, 95.1 ± 1.8 p = 0.004, respectively).

CONCLUSION

It was concluded that the MW parameters GCW and GWI may have been used for predicting INOCA in patients.

Chemotherapy-related cardiac dysfunction: the usefulness of myocardial work indices

AIMS

The role of left ventricular global longitudinal strain (GLS) in the diagnosis of subclinical cardiac damage induced by anticancer drugs is now consolidated. Considering some strain disadvantages such as the dependence on the haemodynamic loading conditions, the aim of our study was to investigate the usefulness of non-invasive myocardial work indices (MWI) derived from pressure-strain analysis, in the early diagnosis of cardiotoxicity.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We enrolled 61 consecutive patients with breast cancer undergoing adjuvant treatment with anthracycline-containing chemotherapy followed by taxane + trastuzumab. Patients underwent a cardiological evaluation with 2D echocardiography including measurement of the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and other conventional parameters of systolic and diastolic function, GLS and MWI at baseline (T0), 3 months (T1) and 6 months (T2) after starting chemotherapy. At T1 and T2, we did not find a significant reduction in LVEF but we found a significant reduction in GLS and MWI (p value < 0.05). In addition, at T2, 31% of patients developed subclinical cardiac dysfunction defined as a relative decrease ≥ 12% of GLS from baseline. Global work index (GWI), global constructive work (GCW) and global work efficiency (GWE) decreased significantly in both patients with subclinical dysfunction and in those without subclinical dysfunction (p value < 0.05). Patients with subclinical dysfunction at T2 showed lower values of GCW at T0.

CONCLUSION

MWI changed significantly during chemotherapy and appeared to alter precociously compared to GLS. Therefore, a multiparametric approach including left ventricular GLS and MWI measurements should be used in the evaluation of patients undergoing cardiotoxic antineoplastic treatment.

Clinical research progress of myocardial work in assessment and prediction of coronary artery disease in noninvasive pressure-strain loop technique

Early identification and treatment of high-risk coronary artery disease (CAD) is the main goal of current cardiovascular disease treatments. Speckle-tracking ultrasound technology can quantify myocardial work using pressure-strain loops. Because myocardial work takes into account the effect of the left ventricular systolic function afterload, it can more objectively reflect left ventricular myocardial mechanical function than the overall left ventricular longitudinal strain. Therefore, this technique is more widely used in diseases caused by CAD. This article reviews the evaluation and prediction of different CAD types using a variety of myocardial work parameters and provides a new method for clinical research to assess myocardial function, which is expected to become a new prediction method for CAD.