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Echography in the Evaluation of Cardiac Mechanical Asynchrony

An article from the e-journal of the ESC Council for Cardiology Practice

The variety of echocardiographic parameters used to define mechanical asynchrony (a septal-to-posterior wall motion delay  ≥ 130 msec, intra-ventricular or interventricular or LV asynchrony) and the variety of methods to detect it (M-mode and Doppler Echocardiography, Tissue Doppler Imaging and Three-dimensional Echocardiography)  reflect the current inability to find a gold standard parameter to be used in clinical practice.



1) CRT increases survival for patients with heart failure, but it doesn’t work well in all patients

Heart failure remains a major cause of death and disability, despite the proven morbidity and mortality benefits of pharmacological therapy. Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) has been proposed as a non-pharmacological alternative therapy in these patients. From the early evidence of clinical and functional benefit, it now shows it can also increase survival. Nevertheless, not all patients respond positively to CRT and the medical community wants to find the reason for that.

2) Parameters able to identify responders to CRT have been found

The echocardiographic evidence of mechanical asynchrony has recently been shown to be an independent predictor of outcome. Thus, the presence of mechanical asynchrony seems to have prognostic implications.
 
Echocardiographic evidence of asynchronous contraction could help predict a positive response to CRT. Echocardiography has been advancing with amazing speed and parameters able to identify responders to CRT have been found.

New sophisticated echocardiographic techniques are evolving, in the effort to overcome the limitations present in several conventional parameters. Indeed :

  • Pitzalis et al (1) demonstrated that the presence of a SPWMD ≥ 130 msec, prior to CRT implantation, was able to identify those candidates who showed a significant reduction of HF progression.
  • Bader et al (2) demonstrated that the presence of intra-ventricular, but not inter-ventricular asynchrony, assessed by TDI, was an independent predictor of hospitalisation for cardiac decompensation.
  • In a study by Bax et al (3), pre-implantation echocardiographic evidence of LV dyssynchrony, defined as the maximum delay between peak TDI velocities among the anterior, inferior, septal and lateral LV basal walls, was associated with a significant better prognosis in the first year after CRT
  • In the CARE-HF study (4), there was a trend for a greater benefit of CRT therapy in patients with a higher degree of interventricular asynchrony.

The QRS width is, currently, the approved selection criterion for implantation of CRT devices (5,6).
However, about 30 % of patients do not respond to CRT and show no evidence of reverse remodelling (7). On the other hand, the presence of mechanical asynchrony was documented in patients with narrow QRS, and this subgroup of patients was also shown to derive a favourable effect to CRT (8-10). Thus, it seems that mechanical asynchrony can be present without substantially increasing the QRS duration on the surface ECG.

3) Curently, the main methods used to detect the presence of mechanical cardiac asynchrony are (11):

M-mode Echocardiography: The septal-to-posterior wall motion delay (SPWMD) was proposed by Pitzalis as a parameter of intraventricular dyssynchrony. It is determined as the shortest interval between the maximal posterior displacement of the septum and the maximal displacement of the left posterior wall in an M-mode tracing from the paraesternal short-axis view at the level of the papillary muscle (Figure 1).

Doppler Echocardiography: Pulsed Doppler flow measurements have been used to identify interventricular asynchrony. Left and right ventricle pre-ejection intervals are measured as the time from the onset of the QRS complex on the surface ECG and the onset of the left and right ventricle Pulsed Doppler waves. Interventricular asynchrony is evaluated by determining the extent of interventricular mechanical delay (IVMD), measured as the time difference between left and right ventricular pre-ejection intervals. An IVMD of more than 40 ms is considered indicative of interventricular asynchrony (4) but its ability to predict response to CRT remain to be proven.

Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI): The septal-to-lateral delay (SLD), a TDI index proposed by Bax, is measured as the time difference from the onset of the QRS complex and peak systolic TDI wave between the basal septal and lateral walls (figures 2A and 2B), and has proven to be able to identify responders. Furthermore, the value of the TDI derived systolic asynchrony index (TS-SD) has been investigated, in several studies by Yu. This index, calculated as the standard deviation of the time to peak myocardial systolic contraction of 12 LV segments in a 6-basal-6-mid segmental model, was the only independent predictor of LV reverse remodelling after CRT. A pre-implantation TS-SD of 32.6 ms was able to totally separate non-responders from responders.

Strain, strain rate and tissue tracking: In a comparison between TDI and strain rate imaging by Yu, the former showed to be superior on the prediction of reverse remodelling. Tissue tracking was used by Sogaard to demonstrate that the extent of the left ventricular base circumference displaying delayed longitudinal contraction, before pace-maker implantation, was able to predict long-term efficacy of CRT.

Three-dimensional Echocardiography: in a study by Kapetanakis, a Systolic Asynchrony Index (DI) was derived from 3D regional volumetric curves (Figure 3). The DI was defined as the standard deviation of these timings. Higher values denote increasing intraventricular dyssynchrony.

The content of this article reflects the personal opinion of the author/s and is not necessarily the official position of the European Society of Cardiology.

Conclusion:

To conclude, extensive investigation in this field has resulted in several echocardiographic parameters that have been proposed to define asynchrony. The wide diversity of parameters, the variety of aspects of the synchronicity of contraction evaluated in the different parameters, the different definitions of response used in the several studies, and the small number of patients included, can somehow explain the current inability to find a gold standard parameter to be used in clinical practice.
In fact, one of the most interesting findings of the RAVE study (12) was the poor agreement among the different methods to detect asynchrony. The recently shown results of the PROSPECT study, did not confer a great superiority to the echo techniques over surface EKG in the detection of responders to CRT. Future large randomised clinical trials are needed to evaluate these proposed parameters and find an accurate and standardised echocardiographic evaluation criteria of asynchrony.         


Figure 1: Septal-to-posterior wall motion delay or Pitzalis method. See text for details.



Figure 2A and 2B: Measurement of the septal-to-lateral delay using TDI.

Figure 2B 

Figure 3: 3D-echocardiography-derived regional volumetric curves.

 

References


Reference: 1. Pitzalis MV, Iacoviello M, Romito R, Guida P, De Tommasi E, Luzzi G, Anaclerio M, Forleo C, Rizzon P. Ventricular asynchrony predicts a better outcome in patients with chronic heart failure receiving cardiac resynchronization therapy. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2005;45(1):65-9.

2. Bader H, Garrigue S, Lafitte S, et al. Intra-Left Ventricular Electromechanical Asynchrony. A New Independent Predictor of Severe Cardiac Events in Heart Failure Patients. J Am Coll Cardiol 2004; 43:248-56.

3. Bax JJ, Bleeker GB, Marwick TH, Mlhoek SG, Boersma E, Steendijk P, van der Wall E, Schalij MJ. Left Ventricular dyssynchrony predicts response and prognosis after Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2004;44(9):1834-40.

4. Cleland J, Daubert J, Erdmann E, Freemantle N, Gras D, Kappenberger L, Tavazzi L. The effect of Cardiac Resynchronization on Morbidity and Mortality in Heart Failure. N Engl J Med. 2005; 352:1539-49.

5. Swedberg K, Cleland J, Dargie H, Drexler H, Follath F, Komajda M, Tavazzi L, Smiseth OA, Gavazzi A, Haverich A, Hoes A, Jaarsma T, Korewicki J, Levy S, Linde C, Lopez-Sendon JL, Nieminen MS, Pierard L, Remme WJ; Task Froce for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Heart Failure of the European Society of Cardiology. Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic heart failure: executive summary (update 2005): The Task Force for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Heart Failure of the European Society of Cardiology. Eur Heart J. 2005 Jun;26(11):1115-40.

6. Hunt SA, Abraham WT, Chin MH, Feldman AM, Francis GS, Ganiats TG, Jessup M, Konstam MA, Mancini DM, Michl K, Oates JA, Rahko PS, Silver MA, Stevenson LW, Yancy CW, Antman EM, Smith SC Jr, Adams CD, Anderson JL, Faxon DP, Fuster V, Halperin JL, Hiratzka LF, Jacobs AK, Nishimura R, Ornato JP, Page RL, Riegel B; American College of Cardiology; American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines; American College of Chest Physicians; International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation; Heart Rhythm Society. ACC/AHA 2005 Guideline Update for the Diagnosis and Management of Chronic Heart Failure in the Adult: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (Writing Committee to Update the 2001 Guidelines for the Evaluation and Management of Heart Failure): developed in collaboration with the American College of Chest Physicians and the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation: endorsed by the Heart Rhythm Society. Circulation. 2005 Sep 20;112(12):e154-235.

7. Bax J, Ansalone G, Breithardt O, Derumeaux G, Leclercq C, Schalij M, Sogaard P, Sutton M, Nihoyannopoulos P.  Echocardiographic Evaluation of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy: Ready for Routine Clinical Use? A Critical Appraisal. J Am Coll Cardiol 2004; 44:1-9.

8. Sogaard P, Egeblad H, Kim W, Jensen H, Pedersen A, Kristensen B, Mortensen P. Tissue Doppler Imaging predicts Improved Systolic Performance and Reversed Left Ventricular Remodeling During Long-Term Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy. J Am Coll Cardiol 2002;40:723-30.

9. Pitzalis M, Iacoviello M, Romito R, Massari F, Rizzon B, Luzzi G, Guida P, Andriani A, Mastropasqua F, Rizzon P. Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Tailored By Echocardiographic Evaluation of Ventricular Asynchrony. J Am Coll Cardiol 2002; 40:1615-22.

10. Yu C, Yang H, Lau C, Wang Q, Wang S, Lam L, Sanderson J. Regional Left Ventricle Mechanical Asynchrony in patients with heart disease and normal QRS duration, PACE 2003; 26: 562-70.

11. Zamorano J, Pérez de Isla L, Roque C, Khanhderia B. The role of echocardiography in the assessment of mechanical dyssynchrony and its importance in predicting response to prognosis after cardiac resynchronization therapy. J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 2007 Jan;20(1):91-9.

12. Pérez de Isla L, Florit J, Garcia-Hernandez MA, Evangelista A, Zamorano J, RAVE (Registo de Asincronia ventricular en España) Study investigators. Prevalence of Echocardiographically Detected Ventricular Asynchrony in Patients with Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction. J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 2005;18(8):850-9

VolumeNumber:

Vol6 N°22

Notes to editor


Dr L. Pérez de Isla, Prof. J. Zamorano
Madrid, Spain
Member of the European Association of Echocardiography (EAE), and President-Elect

The content of this article reflects the personal opinion of the author/s and is not necessarily the official position of the European Society of Cardiology.