Duration of myocardial early systolic lengthening predicts the presence of significant coronary artery disease.

Objectives: This study sought to investigate whether the duration of left ventricular (LV) early systolic lengthening could accurately identify patients with significant coronary artery disease (CAD).

Background: Ischemic myocardium with reduced active force will lengthen when LV pressure rises during early systole before onset of systolic shortening.

Methods: We included 88 patients with suspected CAD referred to elective diagnostic coronary angiography. Two of these patients were excluded from the study due to evidence of previous myocardial infarction on contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. Speckle tracking echocardiography was performed before coronary angiography and at follow-up scheduled 1 year after revascularization, and global longitudinal strain and duration of average LV early systolic lengthening were recorded.

Results: Forty-three of 86 patients had significant CAD. The duration of early systolic lengthening was significantly prolonged in patients with significant CAD compared with patients without significant coronary artery stenoses (76 ± 37 ms vs. 38 ± 23 ms, p < 0.001). Correspondingly, global systolic strain was significantly lower in patients with CAD (-17.7 ± 3.0% vs. -19.5 ± 2.6%, p = 0.003). Prolonged duration of early systolic lengthening showed the best accuracy in detecting CAD, with an area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of 0.83. The area under the curve for global strain was 0.68. At 1-year follow-up, the duration of early systolic lengthening was significantly reduced (64 ± 37 ms vs. 76 ± 37 ms, p = 0.041) in the patients treated with revascularization.

Conclusions: Duration of myocardial early systolic lengthening was prolonged in patients with significant CAD; this might be a useful parameter to identify patients who might benefit from reperfusion therapy.