Several studies have demonstrated that uremic patients who have preserved left ventricular
(LV) systolic function could still have subtle systolic dysfunction. In our study, we assessed the
right ventricular (RV) and LV myocardial functions measured by conventional echocardiography
and two-dimensional (2D) longitudinal speckle-tracking in hemodialysis and non-dialysis recently
diagnosed uremic patients. The study population consisted of 24 newly diagnosed uremic patients,
25 hemodialysis patients, and 20 healthy controls. The RV and LV longitudinal strains were significantly
lower in patients than in controls (
9.6 vs.
15.3, P < 0.001 for RV and
11.3 vs.
14.8,
p < 0.001 for LV). In the hemodialysis group, the RV longitudinal strain was significantly lower
than in the non-dialysis group (p = 0.018). The RV longitudinal strain was correlated with hypertension
and LV strain. The 2-D longitudinal speckle tracking can detect early ventricular (left and
right) systolic dysfunction in patients with uremia in the presence of normal systolic function by
conventional methods.