Volume 3 No. 4, October 2008

Stress Tissue Doppler Echocardiography as a Prognostic Implication after Acute Myocardial Infarction
Samia Sharf Eldin

Cardiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Egypt
Tanta Med. Sc. J 2008; 3(4):40-46
Article type: Original article

Background/Aim: Tie index could be a predictor of both systolic and diastolic myocardial performance after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography identifies viability in patients with myocardial dysfunction, and predicts the reversibility of myocardial function after AMI. Pulsed wave -Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) allows measuring regional myocardial velocities, and changes of both systolic and diastolic myocardial function. This study aimed to assess the prognostic implication of resting and stress tissue Doppler echocardiographic variables in patients with first acute uncomplicated anterior myocardial infarction. Patients &Methods: This study included 159 patients, they were divided into two groups; patients group included 129 patients with first acute anterior MI treated with thrombolytic therapy and control group included 30 age- and sex- matched healthy subjects. All patients were subjected to baseline demographic characteristics include age, sex, obesity and clinical data analysis; also coronary risk factors were assessed. Complete resting echocardiographic evaluation and resting Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) study for measuring Tei index and low dose dobutamine stress echocardiography to assess myocardial viability were done in all patients. Pulsed-wave Doppler tissue imaging study before and during low dose dobutamine stress echocardiography and follow-up of major adverse cardiac events by resting conventional echocardiography at one month was done for every patient. Results: Patients were sub-divided into two groups according to the myocardial functional improvement at follow up; group I: included 68 patients with no improvement of myocardial function, and group II: included 52 patients with improvement on follow up. There was significant correlation between group I and the resting echocardiographic data, and there was significant positive correlation between group II and the viability demonstrated with low dose dobutamine echocardiography (LDDE), DTI, or both techniques together. During follow-up, two patients died from non cardiac cause, the remaining patients had cardiac events, forming the event group (group A), and the non-event group (group B). Patients in group A were significantly older than patients in group B (P<0.000). However, there was significant positive correlation between non event group and the myocardial viability. Tei index was the most significant constant independent predictor of early cardiac events. Conclusion: Resting and stress tissue Doppler echocardiographic variables found to have a significant prognostic implication in patients with acute anterior myocardial infarction

ICID 881848