Evidence of impaired left ventricular systolic function by Doppler myocardial imaging in patients with systemic amyloidosis and no evidence of cardiac involvement by standard two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography.

We examined the potential role of Doppler myocardial imaging for early detection of systolic dysfunction in patients with systemic amyloidosis (AL) but without evidence of cardiac involvement by standard echocardiography. We identified 42 patients without 2-dimensional echocardiographic or Doppler evidence of cardiac involvement. These patients had normal ventricular wall thickness and normal velocity of the medial mitral annulus. Myocardial images were obtained in these patients and in 32 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Peak longitudinal systolic tissue velocity (sTVI), systolic strain rate (sSR), and systolic strain (sS) were determined for 16 left ventricular segments. Radial and circumferential sSR and sS were also measured. Compared with controls in this group of patients with AL, peak longitudinal sSR (-1.0 +/- 0.2 vs -1.4 +/- 0.2, p <0.001) and peak longitudinal sS (-15.6 +/- 3.3 vs -22.5 +/- 2.0 p <0.001) were significantly decreased. In conclusion, the mean sS from all 6 basal segments, or from all 16 left ventricular segments differentiated patients with AL with normal echocardiography from controls, with similar accuracy for the mean sSR from the 6 basal segments. This distinction was not apparent from peak longitudinal sTVI or from radial or circumferential sSI or sSR.