Impaired biventricular deformation in Marfan syndrome: a strain and strain rate study in adult unoperated patients.

Objective: To investigate the presence of any regional myocardial deformation abnormalities in Marfan syndrome (MFS) and determine the benefits of using advanced echocardiography compared to conventional techniques.

Background: Myocardial dysfunction in MFS may be caused by extracellular matrix remodeling thus, resulting in uniform reduced functionality. However, increased aortic stiffness may cause segmental ventricular abnormalities.

Biventricular and atrial diastolic function assessment using conventional echocardiography and tissue-Doppler imaging in adults with Marfan syndrome.

Aims: Previous studies provided evidence about left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction in adults with Marfan syndrome (MFS). However, in the literature, data on right ventricular and bi-atrial diastolic function are limited. We aimed to investigate whether, in the absence of significant valvular disease, diastolic dysfunction is present not only in both ventricles but also in the atrial cavities.

The automated assessment of ultrasound scanner lateral and slice thickness resolution: use of the step response.

The imaging performance assessment of ultrasound scanners based on traditional phantoms is limited by repeatability, subjectivity and systematic errors giving low confidence in results. A new approach to the automated measurement of scanner resolution is described. The method utilises a step change in backscatter to derive resolution from the imaging system line spread function and has been used to calculate resolution in two dimensions as a continuous function of depth.

Assessment of carotid compliance using real time vascular ultrasound image analysis in Marfan syndrome.

Background: Fibrillin-1 deficiency, dysregulated cytokine transforming growth factor-beta, and increased collagen deposition related to fibrillin-1 gene mutations could predispose to impaired carotid compliance (CC) in Marfan syndrome (MFS). We sought to detect any alterations in CC using the vascular image analysis system (VIA).

Methods And Results: Thirty-two MFS patients, 20 men and 12 women (mean age 34.

Impaired right ventricular systolic function demonstrated by reduced atrioventricular plane displacement in adults with Marfan syndrome.

Aims: The right ventricle (RV) ejects the same volume of blood at the same rate as the left ventricle (LV). Mild LV dysfunction has been demonstrated in Marfan syndrome (MFS). However, little attention has been paid to the functioning of the RV.

Development of a thermal test object for the measurement of ultrasound intracavity transducer self-heating.

The elevated surface temperature of diagnostic ultrasound transducers imposes an important limitation to their safe use in clinical situations. Moreover, particular care should be taken if transvaginal transducers are to be used during routine scans in the first few weeks of pregnancy as the transducer surface can be very close to embryonic/fetal tissues. Published results have shown that the heating of tissue due to transducer self-heating can equal and often exceed the acoustic heating contribution.

Early impairment of left ventricular long-axis systolic function demonstrated by reduced atrioventricular plane displacement in patients with Marfan syndrome.

Aims: Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a connective tissue disorder caused by mutations in the fibrillin-1 (FBN1) gene. It has been observed that FBN1 deficient mice have reduced left ventricular (LV) systolic function which is correlated to increased transforming growth factor-beta activity. This study aimed to ascertain LV functional abnormalities in MFS patients using M-mode and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI).

Chronic inflammation and increased arterial stiffness in patients with cardiac syndrome X.

Aims: Endothelial dysfunction and subangiographic atheroma have been reported in patients with cardiac syndrome X (CSX) but little is known regarding chronic inflammation and reduced arterial distensibility as pathogenic mechanisms. We assessed whether markers of inflammation and arterial distensibility differ in CSX patients compared to control subjects.

Methods And Results: We studied 30 consecutive CSX patients (mean age 57+/-6 years, 25 women) and 30 healthy controls (mean age 54+/-8 years, 25 women).

Microemboli detection using ultrasound backscatter.

Microemboli detection and characterisation have recently received great attention due to its clinical importance in the management of cerebrovascular disease. The new method presented in this paper is directly based on the idea that the ultrasound (US) backscattered signal from flowing blood is chaotic (El-Brawany and Nassiri 2002). The detection technique involves building a nonlinear model of the deterministic characteristics of the chaotic backscatter signal from blood, and the use of this model to look at the prediction error as a primary decision-making criterion for the microemboli detector.

New approach for modelling ultrasound blood backscatter signal.

The ultrasound (US) scattered signal from blood has been treated as a random signal by many investigators. However, the degree of randomness of a medium is a relative term that can change considerably with the resolution of the sensor. In this study, the backscattered signal from blood has been looked at as a chaotic signal.