Assessment of myocardial viability in patients with acute myocardial infarction by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography combined with low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography

It is clinically important to determine the myocardial viability of regional wall motion abnormality segments in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The purpose of this study was to ascertain the ability and value of a combination of speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) and low dose dobutamine stress echocardiography (LDDSE) for the evaluation of viable myocardium in patients with AMI. Forty-two hospitalized patients with AMI and left ventricular systolic dysfunction (left ventricular ejection fraction <50 %) were underwent STE in conjunction with LDDSE and dual isotope simultaneous acquisition single photon emission computed tomography (DISA-SPECT). Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was performed subsequently in all patients. STE was used to measure radial, circumferential, and longitudinal end-systolic strain and peak systolic strain rate. The movement of each segment was observed by routine echocardiography 1, 3, and 6 months after PCI, and its improvement over time was the criterion of viable myocardium. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of DISA-SPECT for the assessment of viable myocardium were 83.6, 74.4, and 80.7 %, respectively. Among the radial, circumferential, and longitudinal strain and strain rate parameters, only longitudinal strain (LS) and longitudinal strain rate (LSr) at rest and LDDSE emerged as independent predictors of viable myocardium, When combining LS and LSr at LDDSE, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for the assessment of viable myocardium rose to 89.8, 90.2 and 89.9 %, respectively. The sensitivity of STE in conjunction with LDDSE was similar to DISA-SPECT for detecting viable myocardium in patients with AMI, but the specificity and accuracy of STE performed with LDDSE were higher than DISA-SPECT.