Serial assessment of focal myocardial function after percutaneous coronary intervention for ST‐elevation myocardial infarction: Value of layer‐specific speckle tracking echocardiography

BACKGROUND Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) frequenting follows successful PCI for STEMI and is recognized by multiple modalities. Multilayer speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) has the potential of detecting myocardial dysfunction in different myocardial layers. Our objective was to describe the changes in layer-specific myocardial function over the 24 hours after successful PCI for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). METHODS Patients (n = 120) with STEMI and no prior myocardial infarction underwent echocardiography prior to PCI, immediately after and at 3- and 24-hours post-PCI. Worsening focal dysfunction (WFD) was defined as an immediate reduction, compared to the pre-PCI value, in the amplitude of endo-myocardial longitudinal strain (endo-MLS) within the infarction territory. RESULTS Patients with WFD (52%) had further reductions in endo-MLS, mid-MLS, and epi-MLS in the infarction region immediately post-PCI; at 3 hours strain began to improve and continued to improve at 24 hours. Reductions of endo-MLS strain were more evident than those of global, mid-MLS, and epi-MLS. This same pattern was seen in each of the ischemic territories of the anterior descending, circumflex, and right coronary arteries. Immediate improvement in endo-MLS following PCI was seen in 48% of patients. The time from symptom onset to balloon time was markedly longer in those with WFD (P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS Multilayer SPE is a sensitive method that identifies serial alterations in focal myocardial function following successful PCI for STEMI. Layer-specific reductions in endo-MLS appeared more evident than decreases in global LV strain. Prolonged total ischemic time prior to PCI was directly related to the incidence of WFD.