Diagnostic utility of two‐dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography to identify ischemic etiology of left ventricular systolic dysfunction

Background The differentiation between dilated cardiomyopathy ( DCM ) and systolic dysfunction caused by coronary artery disease ( CAD ) based on clinical and echocardiographic presentation can be difficult in some cases. Aim Our study aimed to define differences in myocardial function between patients with ischemic and nonischemic etiology of reduced left ventricular ejection fraction using 2D speckle tracking echocardiography ( STE ). Material and methods We retrospectively analyzed 90 patients (mean age 65 ± 11 years, 70% male) with de novo diagnosed reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (≤45% as determined by the transthoracic echocardiography), who were referred for coronary angiography to determine the presence of significant CAD . On the basis of coronary angiography results, patients were divided into two subgroups as follows: 45 subjects with significant CAD (group A) and 45 subjects without CAD (group B). Acquired transthoracic echocardiographic images were assessed off‐line using 2 DSTE . In each patient, we calculated arithmetic mean, median value, and standard deviation of regional longitudinal strain and strain rate of 18 left ventricular segments. Results Standard deviation of the regional peak early diastolic strain rate was significantly higher in group A than in group B ( P = 0.01). The cutoff value with the highest diagnostic value was >0.37/s—its sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of CAD were 73% and 53%, respectively. The remaining parameters did not differ significantly between the study groups. Conclusions Patients with systolic dysfunction resulting from CAD have significantly more heterogeneous regional longitudinal early diastolic strain rate assessed by 2 DSTE than patients with DCM .