Evaluation of left ventricular systolic function in young and its variation according to ventricular geometry

Background. Changes in left ventricular (LV) geometry in younger patients and if these, even if subclinical produce alterations in systolic function (SF), have not been evaluated. For this trial we used 397 (255 women and 142 men) students from the Department of Physiology and Biological Physics, Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP). Methods. M-mode, bidimensional, Doppler echocardiography was performed in every case. To define left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) the cutoff was the average value plus two standard deviations, emerged from the study group without arterial hypertension and without obesity, for each gender. As systolic function parameter were used ventricular midwall shortening corrected stress (VMWS/STRESS) and the S wave tissue Doppler mitral annulus lateral (Slat). The VMWS/STRESS and Slat were analyzed by LV geometry. Results. As they progressed towards the LVH, we observed a significant decrease of the wave Slat, N: 25.09; RC: 23.06; HVI: 19.08 (p<0.001); whereas, when VMWS/STRESS was used, although there was a gradual decline, the levels found were not statistically significant, N: 0.59; RC: 0.56; HVI: 0.50 (p=NS). Conclusion. These results allow to conclude that the deterioration of systolic function that occurs in the progress of LVH would be detected much earlier by the Slat wave than by the VMWS/STRESS, reflecting this early involvement of the longitudinal fibers when compared with the transverse fibers.