Comparison of cardiac strain parameters between echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance in high-level endurance athletes

Congress:

ESCR 2019

Poster Number:

P-0051

Type:

Poster Abstract

Keywords:

Athletic injuries, Comparative studies, Ultrasound, MR, Cardiac

Authors:

Y. Menger¹, E. Janssen¹, M. Heideman¹, M. Saddiqa¹, B. Vande Berg², J. Bogaert³, H. Heidbuchel⁴, M. D. M. claeys³, M. P. D. R. Willems³, M. D. K. Lefebvre¹, M. P. D. A. La Gerche⁵, M. D. L. Herbots¹, M. D. G. Claessen³, O. Ghekiere¹; ¹Hasselt/BE, ²Leuven, BE/BE, ³Leuven/BE, ⁴Antwerp/BE, ⁵Melbourne/AU

DOI:

DOI-Link:

https://dx.doi.org/

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Purpose

The heart of high-level endurance athletes undergoes structural changes which are accompanied by changes in left (LV) and right (RV) ventricular strain. The standard to evaluate cardiac strains is speckle tracking echocardiography (STE), but cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) could provide an alternative. This study compares cardiac strain measurements between CMR and STE in high-level endurance athletes.

Methods and Materials

43 professional cyclists underwent STE and CMR imaging. These images were acquired in short axis, 2-,3- and 4-chamber views. Measured variables included LV global longitudinal strain (GLS), global circumferential strain (GCS) and global radial strain (GRS)and RV global longitudinal strain (RV GLS). Statistics were performed using linear regression and Bland-Altman analyses.

Results

Mean STE values were more negative than CMR in LV GLS, GCS and RV GLS and more positive in LV GRS. Linear regression showed no significant correlation between STE and CMR analysis for neither LV GLS, GCS, GRS or RV GLS. Bland-Altman plots showed a mean systematic bias of 5% between STE and CMR for all strains except for GRS.

Conclusion

No significant correlation was found between CMR and STE for LV and RV strain parameters in high-level endurance athletes. Therefore, both imaging modalities cannot be used interchangeably for strain analyses.