Abstract
BACKGROUND:Aortic regurgitation(AR) is a clinical status characterized
by diastolic blood backflow from aorta to the left ventricle. Grading
the severity of AR is very important for clinical follow-up. In spite of
numerous parameters, the severity of AR still remains unclear in some
patients. In AR, left atrial(LA) mechanics can be affected in time and
LA strain variations can be illuminating for the grading of AR. The
purpose of this study is to determine whether the LA strain parameters
are associated with the severity of aortic regurgitation or not.
METHOD:64 consecutive patients with AR were included in this study.After
echocardiographic examination according to the aortic regurgitation
degree. Patients divided in three groups as mild(n: 22),moderate(n: 15)
or severe(n: 27). All patients LA strain measurements performed and
results compared between groups. RESULTS:According to echocardiographic
measurements; between the groups; LA reservoir in the mild, moderate and
severe AR groups were(42.0 ±18.0, 41.4±14.8, 29.2 ±6.0 repectively,
p:0.002) and LA conduit in the mild, moderate and severe AR groups were
(21.2±8.7, 19.3±7.4 and 13.1 ± 4.4 respectively p <0.001),
statistically significant different, while no statistically significant
difference was noticed on LA SRs,LA SRe,LA SRa. CONCLUSION:This study
showed that LA reservoir and LA conduit parameters of the patients with
severe AR significantly decreased compared to those of the mild and
moderate AR group. The grading of the LA mechanics in patients with
chronic AR might provide a supplementary contribution to the present
parameters in the grading of AR. Keywords: Aortic regurtation,
graduation, left atrial strain