Journal Article

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance left ventricular strain in end-stage renal disease patients after kidney transplantation

Nash, Michelle M., Yan, Andrew T., Gong, Inna Y., Prasad, G. V. Ramesh, Deva, Djeven P., Leong-Poi, Howard, Yuan, Weiqiu, Connelly, Kim A., Wald, Ron, Kim, S. Joseph, Connelly, Philip W., Wald, Rachel M., Lok, Charmaine E., Al-Amro, Bandar, Gunaratnam, Lakshman

2018

Overview

Background Cardiovascular disease is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and kidney transplant (KT) patients. Compared with left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (LVEF), LV strain has emerged as an important marker of LV function as it is less load dependent. We sought to evaluate changes in LV strain using cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) in ESRD patients who received KT, to determine whether KT may improve LV function. Methods We conducted a prospective multi-centre longitudinal study of 79 ESRD patients (40 on dialysis, 39 underwent KT). CMR was performed at baseline and at 12 months after KT. Results Among 79 participants (mean age 55 years; 30% women), KT patients had significant improvement in global circumferential strain (GCS) ( p  = 0.007) and global radial strain (GRS) ( p  = 0.003), but a decline in global longitudinal strain (GLS) over 12 months ( p  = 0.026), while no significant change in any LV strain was observed in the ongoing dialysis group. For KT patients, the improvement in LV strain paralleled improvement in LVEF (57.4 ± 6.4% at baseline, 60.6% ± 6.9% at 12 months; p  = 0.001). For entire cohort, over 12 months, change in LVEF was significantly correlated with change in GCS (Spearman’s r  = − 0.42, p  < 0.001), GRS (Spearman’s r  = 0.64, p  < 0.001), and GLS (Spearman’s r  = − 0.34, p  = 0.002). Improvements in GCS and GRS over 12 months were significantly correlated with reductions in LV end-diastolic volume index and LV end-systolic volume index (all p  < 0.05), but not with change in blood pressure (all p  > 0.10). Conclusions Compared with continuation of dialysis, KT was associated with significant improvements in LV strain metrics of GCS and GRS after 12 months, which did not correlate with blood pressure change. This supports the notion that KT has favorable effects on LV function beyond volume and blood pessure control. Larger studies with longer follow-up are needed to confirm these findings.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Elsevier
• Subject: Adult / Aged / Angiology / Biomechanical Phenomena / Blood pressure / Cardiology / Cardiomyopathy / Cardiovascular disease / Cardiovascular diseases / Cardiovascular magnetic resonance / Chronic kidney failure / Complications and side effects / Correlation / Correlation analysis / Diagnosis / Diagnostic imaging / Dialysis / End-stage renal disease / Female / Heart / Heart failure / Humans / Imaging / Kidney diseases / Kidney Failure, Chronic - complications / Kidney Failure, Chronic - diagnosis / Kidney Failure, Chronic - physiopathology / Kidney Failure, Chronic - surgery / Kidney transplant / Kidney Transplantation / Kidney transplants / Kidneys / Left ventricular ejection fraction / Left ventricular peak systolic strain / Left ventricular volume / Longitudinal Studies / Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Male / Medical research / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Middle Aged / Morbidity / Mortality / Myocardial Contraction / NMR / Nuclear magnetic resonance / Ontario / Organ transplantation / Patients / Peritoneal dialysis / Predictive Value of Tests / Prospective Studies / Radiology / Recovery of Function / Risk factors / Stroke Volume / Studies / Time Factors / Transplantation / Transplants & implants / Treatment Outcome / Ventricle / Ventricular Dysfunction, Left - diagnostic imaging / Ventricular Dysfunction, Left - etiology / Ventricular Dysfunction, Left - physiopathology / Ventricular Function, Left / Women's health