Decreased Left Ventricular Rotation and Torsion in Hemodialysis Patients Studied by Three-Dimensional Speckle Tracking Imaging

摘要

BACKGROUND: Left ventricle (LV) structural change in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients is due principally to a chronic increase in volume and pressure overload. LV torsion has been shown to be a key factor of evaluating LV function, but has rarely been assessed in CKD by three-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (3D STI). The purpose of this study is to evaluate LV torsion in CKD patients receiving hemodialysis compared with normal healthy subjects.METHODS: Twenty-seven CKD patients on hemodialysis and 27 healthy volunteers were recruited. 3D STI was performed immediately before hemodialysis in the dialysis room. The rotation, twist, and torsion of the LV were automatically calculated by commercialized software for each segment of the LV.RESULTS: Body weight (P < 0.01), both systolic and diastolic blood pressure (P < 0.01), end diastolic and end systolic volume (P < 0.05), and ejection fractions (P < 0.01) showed statistically significant differences between the two groups. There were also significant differences in global value of rotation (3.0 +- 2.0 vs. 2.5 +- 1.9 deg P < 0.05), twist (4.6 +- 3.3 vs. 2.7 +- 1.9 deg P < 0.05), basal torsion (1.6 +-1.1 vs. 0.9 + 0.6 deg/cm P < 0.05) and regional torsion (1.6 +1.2 vs. 0.9 +- 0.8 deg/cm P < 0.05) between healthy volunteers and CKD patients.CONCLUSION: Assessment of LV torsion by newly developed 3D STI is less laborious and time-consuming. Decrease of LV torsion in CKD patients might be due to the marked disarray of myocardial fibers in a uremic heart that affects LV structure, resulting in non-uniform LV torsion.