Myocardial Stiffness Evaluation Using Noninvasive Shear Wave Imaging in Healthy and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathic Adults

• Published in: JACC. Cardiovascular imaging 2019-07, Vol.12 (7), p.1135-1145
• Main Authors: Villemain, Olivier, Correia, Mafalda, Mousseaux, Elie, Baranger, Jérome, Zarka, Samuel, Podetti, Ilya, Soulat, Gilles, Damy, Thibaud, Hagège, Albert, Tanter, Mickael, Pernot, Mathieu, Messas, Emmanuel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic - diagnostic imaging; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic - pathology; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic - physiopathology; Case-Control Studies; Diastole; diastolic function; echocardiography; Elasticity Imaging Techniques; Female; Heart Failure - diagnostic imaging; Heart Failure - pathology; Heart Failure - physiopathology; Humans; Life Sciences; Male; Middle Aged; myocardial stiffness; myocardium; Myocardium - pathology; Predictive Value of Tests; Prospective Studies; Reproducibility of Results; Stroke Volume; Ventricular Function, Left; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1936-878X; 1876-7591; 1876-7591
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2018.02.002

The goal of our study was to investigate the potential of myocardial shear wave imaging (SWI) to quantify the diastolic myocardial stiffness (MS) (kPa) noninvasively in adult healthy volunteers (HVs) and its physiological variation with age, and in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) populations with heart failure and preserved ejection function (HFpEF). MS is an important prognostic and diagnostic parameter of the diastolic function. MS is affected by physiological changes but also by pathological alterations of extracellular and cellular tissues. However, the clinical assessment of MS and the diastolic function remains challenging. SWI is a novel ultrasound-based technique that has the potential to provide intrinsic MS noninvasively. We prospectively included 80 adults: 60 HV (divided into 3 groups: 20- to 39-year old patients [n = 20]; 40- to 59-year-old patients [n = 20]; and 60- to 79-year-old patients [n = 20]) and 20 HCM-HFpEF patients. Echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and biological explorations were achieved. MS evaluation was performed using an ultrafast ultrasound scanner with cardiac phased array. The fractional anisotropy of MS was also estimated. MS increased significantly with age in the HV group (the mean MS was 2.59 ± 0.58 kPa, 4.70 ± 0.88 kPa, and 6.08 ± 1.06 kPa for the 20- to 40-year-old, 40- to 60-year-old, and 60- to 80-year-old patient groups, respectively; p