Left Ventricular and Atrial Deformation in Patients with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure: A Pilot Study

Aims: The aims of this study were to compare global longitudinal strain of the left ventricle (LV-GLS) and reservoir strain of the left atrium (R-LAS) values between patients with acute decompensation of chronic heart failure (HF) and a control group. Methods: Sixteen patients admitted to our ward for acute decompensation of HF were enrolled in this study. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) with two-dimensional speckle-tracking analysis (2D ST) was performed in each patient. The patients were divided into two subgroups according to the value of left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) using a cut-off value of <= 40% to distinguish heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) from heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The control group consisted of 16 individuals without a history of cardiovascular disease, each of whom underwent 2D ST analysis as well. Results: We found that LV-GLS and R-LAS were significantly lower in both the HFrEF and HFpEF subgroups in comparison with the control group (LV-GLS: -13.4 +/- 4.7% vs. -19.7 +/- 2.5%, p < 0.05; R-LAS: +12.2 +/- 6.9% vs. +40.3 +/- 7.4%, p < 0.05). Furthermore, there was a significant difference in LV-GLS (-9.6 +/- 3.2% vs. -15.2 +/- 4.3%, p < 0.05) but not in R-LAS (+13.7 +/- 8.6% vs. +11.4 +/- 6.2%) between the HFrEF and HFpEF subgroups. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated a significant difference in LV-GLS and R-LAS in all enrolled HF patients compared to the control group. There was also a significant difference in LV-GLS between the HFrEF and HFpEF subgroups.