Assessment of left ventricular and atrial diastolic function using two-dimensional (2D) strain imaging in patients with β-thalassemia major.

Background: β-thalassemia major is a unique disease characterized by early severe diastolic dysfunction, due to iron myocardial deposition alone, while left ventricular systolic dysfunction and failure seem to be multifactorial in aitiology.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate left ventricular diastolic dysfunction using a new echo index as speckle tracking in comparison with the conventional methods.

Material And Methods: Eighty-eight consecutive patients (38 male, 50 female) aged 36 ± 8.