Evaluation of Regional Myocardial Function by Strain and Strain Rate before and after Surgical Repair of Congenital Heart Anomalies

Background: tissue doppler imaging yields useful information about regional myocardial function. the purpose of thisstudy was to investigate myocardial function by strain and strain rate in a group of patients with congenital heart disease (chd) before and after cardiac surgery.methods: three consecutive tissue doppler echocardiographic examinations were performed on 25 patients with chd, who underwent open-heart surgery. the study was conducted from april 2013 to april 2014 in a university hospital, and the assessments were done 1 day before and 1 week and 1 month after surgery. the effects of demographic variables, types of anomalies, and cardiopulmonary bypass factors on strain were evaluated.results: the study population comprised 13 female and 12 male patients at a mean age of 9.4 ± 9.8 years. compared to the preoperative data, repeated measurements of strain in 9 segments of the ventricles showed a significant reduction 1 week after surgery, followed by a significant augmentation 1 month postoperatively (p value = 0.001 for all 9 segments). the reduction in strain at the middle segment of the left ventricular free wall was significant in the cyanotic patients (p value = 0.037). the increase in strain at the middle segment of the septum and the right ventricular basal and middle segments was significant (p value = 0.021, p value = 0.015, and p value = 0.021, respectively) in the patients with a shorter pump time.conclusion: our patients experienced an early decline in myocardial function after cardiac surgery, but their myocardiumrecovered its contractility gradually.