Left ventricular peak early diastolic strain rate detected by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography and disease severity in pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension

We investigated and compared the correlations between two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography detected left ventricular peak early diastolic strain rates (global: left ventricular global peak early diastolic strain rate; septum: left ventricular peak early diastolic strain rate of septum; free wall: left ventricular peak early diastolic strain rate of free wall) and disease severity in pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension. Seventy-four pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension patients (23 males and 51 females, 35 ± 13 years) and thirty healthy controls were consecutively recruited for two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography analyses in our study. Medical records of pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension patients were reviewed to capture clinical data; risk assessments were performed based on the 2015 ESC Guidelines. Compared with healthy controls, left ventricular global peak early diastolic strain rate was lower in pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension patients (1.11 ± 0.60 s⁻¹ versus 1.47 ± 0.45 s⁻¹, P = 0.001), especially that of the septum (1.13 ± 0.58 s⁻¹ versus 1.68 ± 0.46 s⁻¹, P<0.001). Linear correlation analyses showed significant but weak correlations between left ventricle diastolic parameters and peak oxygen consumption, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, and conventional echocardiographic right ventricle parameters: E/E′, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion, S′, and fractional area change. No or weak correlations were observed between left ventricle diastolic parameters and hemodynamics. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed left ventricular global peak early diastolic strain rate (OR: 0.304; 95%CI: 0.101–0.911) and left ventricular peak early diastolic strain rate of septum (OR: 0.252; 95%CI: 0.075–0.848) independently predict intermediate–high risk of pulmonary hypertension patients, even adjusted by age, gender, and body mass index. Receive operating characteristic curves showed that all the three models had the capacity to predict intermediate–high risk of pulmonary hypertension patients, and the model including left ventricular peak early diastolic strain rate of septum showed the strongest predictive capacity (area under the curve = 0.76, 95%CI: 0.59–0.93). Two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography detected left ventricle diastolic function parameters are significantly correlated with clinical data and can independently predict intermediate–high risk in pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension patients; the dysfunction of interventricular septum may make major contribution.