Effects of alcohol septal ablation on left ventricular diastolic filling patterns in obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Alcohol septal ablation (ASA) has been shown to improve left ventricular (LV) diastolic function in patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). However, its beneficial effect on diastolic function assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) has not been reported. We investigated the mid-term changes of diastolic function by CMR combined with echocardiography in HCM patients after ASA at a median of 14-month follow-up. CMR parameters of diastolic function including peak filling rate (PFR), and time to peak filling rate (TPFR) were evaluated in 43 patients (aged 48 ± 9 years). LV diastolic function improved significantly measured by echocardiography with the decrease in ratio of transmitral early LV filling velocity (E) to early diastolic mitral lateral annular velocity (E′) (14.20 ± 1.17 to 11.58 ± 1.16, p < 0.001) and E-wave deceleration time (194.04 ± 19.30 to 168.45 ± 12.58 ms, p < 0.001). PFR increased significantly with associated decrease in TPFR after ASA (both p < 0.001) at follow-up. Furthermore, patients with larger decrease in LVOT gradients had a greater improvement of LV diastolic function, as measured by the reduction of E/E′ (p < 0.001) and increase of PFR (p < 0.001). In conclusion, this study demonstrated that successful ASA results in both echocardiographic and CMR indices of diastolic function improvement after ASA at 14-month follow-up. ASA therapy can significantly reduce LVOT gradient and mitral regurgitation, both of which may contribute to the improvement of diastolic function.