Left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction is one of the important
mechanisms responsible for symptoms in patients with heart failure. The
aim of the current study was to identify parameters that may be used to
detect early signs of LV diastolic dysfunction in diabetic pigs on a
high fat diet, using conventional and speckle tracking echocardiography.
The study population consisted of 16 healthy Göttingen minipigs and 18
minipigs with experimentally induced metabolic dysfunction.
Echocardiography measurements were performed at baseline and 3-month
follow-up. The ratio of peak early (E) and late filling velocity (E/A
ratio) and the ratio of E and the velocity of the mitral annulus early
diastolic wave (E/Em ratio) did not change significantly in both groups.
Peak untwisting velocity decreased in the metabolic dysfunction group
(− 30.1 ± 18.5 vs. − 23.4 ± 15.5 °/ms) but not in controls
(− 38.1 ± 23.6 vs. − 42.2 ± 23.0 °/ms), being significantly different
between the groups at the 3-month time point (p < 0.05). In
conclusion, whereas E/A ratio and E/Em ratio did not change
significantly after 3 months of metabolic dysfunction, peak untwisting
velocity was significantly decreased. Hence, peak untwisting velocity
may serve as an important marker to detect early changes of LV diastolic
dysfunction.