Left ventricular strain in patients with Takayasu arteritis with preserved ejection fraction: an analysis using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging feature tracking.

BACKGROUND: The alteration of myocardial strain in patients with Takayasu arteritis (TAK) remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate left ventricular (LV) stain in patients with TAK and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (pLVEF) using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging feature tracking (CMR-FT) to analyze risk factors for impaired LV strain and to compare the baseline difference of LV strain between patients with reduced and nonreduced LVEF at 6-month follow-up.

METHODS: In all, 51 patients with TAK and 30 healthy controls were prospectively enrolled. All participants underwent multiple short- and long-axis cine scans with true fast imaging with steady-state precession sequence. In this observational study, LV global and regional longitudinal, circumferential, and radial strain and their strain rates were analyzed with FT on cine images. The relationship between LV strain and clinical data was explored. The baseline LV strain between patients with TAK and reduced and nonreduced LVEF was compared using transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) at the 6-month follow-up.

RESULTS: Patients with TAK with pLVEF showed a decline in baseline global longitudinal peak strain (GLS) [TAK (-13.35%±3.11%) vs. controls (-14.77%±1.74%), P=0.021] and circumferential peak strain (GCS) [TAK (-21.46%±2.66%) vs. controls (-22.75%±2.57%), P=0.027] in comparison with normal controls. The longitudinal peak strain (LPS) in the apical (P=0.003) and midventricular regions (P=0.027) and the circumferential peak strain (CPS) in the basal (P=0.021) and midventricular regions (P=0.008) also decreased in patients with TAK. Patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) or myocardial late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) showed a greater reduction in strain compared with those without PH or LGE. GLS showed a negative association with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), while GCS showed a positive association with disease duration. In the 30 patients who were followed up, the baseline global and apical circumferential diastolic peak strain rates (DPSR) in patients with reduced LVEF were higher than those in patients without reduced LVEF.

CONCLUSIONS: In patients with TAK and pLVEF, CMR-FT indicated that both global and segmental myocardial strain decreased. PH, male gender, long disease duration, elevated ESR, and myocardial LGE were associated with declined LV strain. Baseline increased circumferential DPSR may be associated with the decline in LVEF during follow-up.