Clinical Value of the Tissue Doppler S Wave to Characterize Left Ventricular Hypertrophy as Defined by Echocardiography

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) may be a physiological finding and may also be associated with different disease entities and hence, with different outcomes. Regional myocardial function can be assessed with color Doppler tissue imaging, specifically by the waveform of the isovolumic contraction (IC) period and the regional systolic wave ("s"). Methods and Results: We studied five groups (G): healthy, sedentary young volunteers (G1, n:10); healthy sedentary adult volunteers (G2, n:8); and subjects with LVH (left ventricular mass index > 125 g/m2) including: high performance athletes (G3, n:21), subjects with hypertension (G4, n:21), subjects with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) (G5, n:18). We measured peak "s" wave velocity (cm/sec) at the basal and mid septum, the IC/s ratio, and basal to mid-septal velocity difference (BMVD) of the "s" wave. Regional "s" wave values (cm/sec) were G1 = 5.6 +/- 1; G2 = 5.4 +/- 0.8; G3 = 5.7 +/- 0.6; G4 = 5.3 +/- 1.1; G5 = 4.2 +/- 1.1 (P < 0.0001). The IC/s ratio was G1 = 0.28 +/- 0.18; G2 = 0.39 +/- 0.21; G3 = 0.23 +/- 0.10; G4 = 0.42 +/- 0.15; G5 = 0.64 +/- 0.15 (P < 0.0001). The BMVD (cm/sec) was G1 = 2 +/- 0.51; G2 = 1.71 +/- 0.29; G3 = 1.78 +/- 0.44; G4 = 1.26 +/- 0.96; G5 = 0.45 +/- 0.4 (P < 0.0001). IC/s < 0.38 discriminated physiological from pathological forms of hypertrophy (sensitivity 90%; specificity 88%). Peak "s" wave velocity discriminated HCM from other causes of hypertrophy, with a cutoff value of 4.46 cm/sec (sensitivity 72%; specificity 90%). BMVD < 0.98 cm/sec detected HCM with 89% sensitivity and 86% specificity. Conclusions: Peak "s" wave velocity and two indices: IC/s and BMDV are novel parameters that may allow to discriminate physiological from pathological forms of hypertrophy as well as different subtypes of hypertrophy. (ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY 2010;27:370-377).