Myocardial mechanical and QTc dispersion for the detection of significant coronary artery disease.

Aims: Ischaemic but viable myocardium may exhibit prolongation of contraction and QT interval duration, but it is largely unknown whether non-invasive assessment of regional heterogeneities of myocardial deformation and QT interval duration could identify patients with significant coronary artery disease (CAD).

Methods And Results: We retrospectively studied 205 patients with suspected CAD who underwent coronary angiography. QTc dispersion was assessed from a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) as the difference between the longest and shortest QTc intervals.

Visual assessment vs. strain imaging for the detection of critical stenosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery in patients without a history of myocardial infarction.

Aims: We sought to determine the prevalence of overt and subclinical LV dysfunction in patients with critical left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) stenosis but without a history of myocardial infarction and to compare diagnostic value of routine echocardiographic parameters with myocardial strain analysis for detection of critical LAD stenosis.

Methods And Results: We retrospectively studied 269 patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD)-209 consecutive patients with critical LAD stenosis and 60 consecutive patients with atypical chest pain and without CAD. Conventional visual assessment of LV asynergy in the LAD territory was compared with global, regional, and segmental peak systolic longitudinal strain (PSLS) parameters derived by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D STE).