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The increasing number and proportion of aged individuals in the population warrants knowledge of normal physiological changes of left ventricular (LV) biomechanics with advancing age. LV twist describes the instantaneous circumferential motion of the apex with respect to the base of the heart and has an important role in LV ejection and filling. This study sought to investigate the biomechanics behind age-related changes in LV twist by determining a broad spectrum of LV rotation parameters in different age groups, using speckle tracking echocardiography (STE). The final study population consisted of 61 healthy volunteers (16-35 yr, n = 25; 36-55 yr, n = 23; 56-75 yr, n = 13; 31 men). LV peak systolic rotation during the isovolumic contraction phase ([Rot.sub.early]), LV peak systolic rotation during ejection ([Rot.sub.max]), instantaneous LV peak systolic twist ([Twist.sub.max]), the time to [Rot.sub.early], [Rot.sub.max], and [Twist.sub.max], and rotational deformation delay (defined as the difference of time to basal [Rot.sub.max] and apical [Rot.sub.max]) were determined by STE using QLAB Advanced Quantification Software (version 6.0; Philips, Best, The Netherlands). With increasing age, apical [Rot.sub.max] (P < 0.05), time to apical [Rot.sub.max] (P < 0.01), and [Twist.sub.max] (P < 0.01) increased, whereas basal [Rot.sub.early] (P < 0.001), time to basal [Rot.sub.early] (P < 0.01), and rotational deformation delay (P < 0.05) decreased. Rotational deformation delay was significantly correlated to [Twist.sub.max] ([R.sup.2] = 0.20, P < 0.05). In conclusion, [Twist.sub.max] increased with aging, resulting from both increased apical [Rot.sub.max] and decreased rotational deformation delay between the apex and the base of the LV. This may explain the preservation of LV ejection fraction in the elderly. aging; left ventricular function

Background: Elderly heart failure (HF) patients are underrepresented in clinical trials, though are a large proportion of patients in real-world practice. We investigated practice-based, secondary care HF management in a large group of chronic HF patients aged ≥ 80 years (octogenarians). Methods: We analyzed electronic health records of 3490 octogenarians with chronic HF at 34 Dutch outpatient clinics in the period between 2013 and 2016 , 49% women. Study patients were divided into HFpEF [LVEF ≥ 50%; n = 911 (26.1%)], HFrEF [LVEF < 40%; n = 2009 (57.6%)] and HF with mid-range EF [HFmrEF: LVEF 40–49%; n = 570 (16.3%)]. Results: Most HFrEF patients aged ≥ 80 years received a beta blocker and a renin–angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitor (angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker), i.e. 78.3% and 72.8% respectively, and a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) was prescribed in 52.0% of patients. All three of these guideline-recommended medications (triple therapy) were given in only 29.9% of octogenarians with HFrEF, and at least 50% of target doses of triple therapy, beta blockers, RAS inhibitor and MRA, were prescribed in 43.8%, 62.2% and 53.5% of the total group of HFrEF patients. Contraindications or intolerance for beta blockers was present in 3.5% of the patients, for RAS inhibitors and MRAs in, 7.2% and 6.1% Conclusions: The majority of octogenarians with HFrEF received one or more guideline-recommended HF medications. However, triple therapy or target doses of the medications were prescribed in a minority. Comorbidities and reported contraindications and tolerances did not fully explain underuse of recommended HF therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The echocardiographic focus to detect abnormalities in genetically hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) affected subjects without left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (G+/LVH-) has been on diastolic abnormalities in transmitral flow and longitudinal myocardial function with tissue Doppler imaging. The aim of this study was to assess diastolic LV unstrain and untwist. Methods and results Forty-one consecutive genotyped family members of HCM patients (mean age 37 ± 11 years, 16 men) and 41 age-and gender-matched healthy volunteers underwent speckle-tracking echocardiography to measure untwist and unstrain. No significant differences between G+/LVH - and control subjects were seen in maximal systolic twist and global longitudinal strain. In diastole, the early peak untwist rate was significantly lower in G+/LVH- subjects compared with control subjects (62 ± 19°s -1 vs. 76 ± 30°s -1, P <0.05), whereas the late peak untwist rate tended to be higher. Untwist from maximal twist until the first 20% of diastole was delayed in G+/LVH - subjects (39.3 ± 12.9% vs. 51.3 ± 15.6%, P <0.005). Late diastolic unstrain rate was significantly higher in G+/LVH- subjects in the inferoseptal wall (111 ± 33 s -1 vs. 94 ± 32 s -1, P = 0.024), the inferolateral wall (105 ± 42 vs. 75 ± 35 s -1, P = 0.007) and the anteroseptal wall (97 ± 26 vs. 80 ± 23s -1, P - 0.010). Unstrain from maximal twist until the first 20% of diastole was delayed in G+/LVH- subjects in the inferoseptal (18.9 ± 14.0% vs. 30.1 ± 17.7%, P = 0.005), inferolateral (27.1 ± 16.3% vs. 39.2 ± 18.0%, P = 0.015) and anteroseptal (19.1 ± 14.7% vs. 35.8 ± 18.5%, P = 0.0003) segments. Conclusions In mutation carriers, for HCM LV, untwist and unstrain are delayed and untwist rate and unstrain rate are decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Society of Echocardiography and European Association of Echocardiography (ASE/EAE) have published an algorithm for the grading of diastolic function. However, the ability to use this algorithm effectively in daily clinical practice has not been investigated. We hypothesized that in some patients it may be difficult to grade diastolic dysfunction with this scheme, since there may be discrepancies in the assessed parameters. The aim of the current study was to test the feasibility of the ASE/EAE algorithm and to compare this with a new Thoraxcenter (TXC) algorithm. The ASE/EAE and TXC algorithms were applied to 200 patients. The ASE/EAE algorithm starts with assessment of diastolic myocardial wall velocities and left atrial (LA) volumes with subsequent assessment of E/A ratio, E-wave deceleration time and pulmonary venous flow. The TXC algorithm reverses these steps, uses LA dimension instead of volume and does not include a Valsalva manoeuvre and pulmonary venous flow. Due to inconsistencies between diastolic myocardial wall velocities and LA volumes and a not covered E/A ratio in the range of 1.5-2 it was not possible to classify 48 % of patients with the ASE/EAE algorithm, as opposed to only 10 % by the TXC algorithm. LA volume was always needed in the ASE/EAE algorithm. In only 64 % of patients LA size was necessary by the TXC algorithm. When LA volume would have been used instead of LA dimension, grading of LV diastolic function would have been different in only 2 % of patients without apparent improvement. Assessment of LA dimension was considerably faster than LA volume. The TXC algorithm to grade LV diastolic dysfunction was compared to the ASE/EAE algorithm simpler, faster, better reproducible and yields a higher diagnostic outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]