Tissue Motion Annular Displacement of the Mitral Valve Can Be a Useful Index for the Evaluation of Left Ventricular Systolic Function by Echocardiography in Normal Children.

As the important role of longitudinal shortening in ventricular function has been well recognized over the past decade, evaluation of longitudinal systolic function of the left ventricle has become a subject of growing interest. Tissue motion annular displacement of the mitral valve (TMAD) is a new parameter of longitudinal systolic function. Although some studies have reported that this new parameter correlates with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in adults, little is known about TMAD in normal children. In this work, we investigated 94 children with no history of cardiovascular disease. TMAD was measured in the apical four-chamber view using the two-dimensional speckle tracking technique. Three points for tracking were selected in a diastolic frame: the lateral mitral valve annulus, medial mitral valve annulus, and left ventricular apex. The value was expressed as the percentage of displacement of the midpoint of the mitral valve annulus, using software to correct for left ventricular length at end-diastole. Pearson's coefficient was used to estimate the correlation between TMAD and left ventricular systolic function parameters including the biplane modified Simpson method-derived ejection fraction and global longitudinal strain (GLS). We also analyzed the correlation between TMAD and heart rate (HR), height, age, and body surface area (BSA). TMAD was found to correlate significantly with LVEF (r = 0.71, p < 0.01) and GLS (r = -0.77, p < 0.01). However, no correlation was revealed for HR (r = -0.14, p = 0.19), height (r = -0.17, p = 0.10), age (r = -0.19, p = 0.09), or BSA (r = -0.19, p = 0.08). These results indicate that TMAD is useful for assessing LVEF and longitudinal systolic function in normal children, and is not influenced by changes in HR, height, age, or BSA.