Influences of cardiovascular risk factors on left ventricular wall motion function in patients treated with epirubicin: a clinical study by layer-specific speckle tracking imaging

Objective To investigate the influences of cardiovascular risk factors on left ventricular wall motion function in patients treated with epirubicin chemotherapy by layer-specific two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (2D-STI). Methods Sixty-four female patients with breast cancer treated with epirubicin and 36 controls from June 2018 to March 2019 in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University were included. According to the numbers of cardiovascular risk factors, the patients were divided into group A (without cardiovascular risk factors, 31 cases), group B (single cardiovascular risk factor, 20 cases), and group C (multiple cardiovascular risk factors, 13 cases). All patients underwent echocardiography before and after epirubicin respectively. Global longitudinal strain, circumferential strain, radial strain (GLS, GCS, GRS), endocardial and epicardial layers of GLS and GCS (endoGLS, epiGLS, endoGCS, epiGCS) were obtained by EchoPAC software analysis. The differences of GLS, EndoGLS, EpiGLS, GCS, EndoGCS, EpiGCS and GRS before and after chemotheraphy were calculated as ΔGLS, ΔEndoGLS, ΔEpiGLS, ΔGCS, ΔEndoGCS, ΔEpiGCS and ΔGRS. Results Compared with before chemotherapy, GLS, EndoGLS, EpiGLS, GCS, EndoGCS, EpiGCS and GRS were significantly reduced in group A, B and C after chemotherapy (all P<0.05). ΔEndoGLS and ΔEndoGCS showed an increasing trend in groups A, B and C, with statistical significance (all P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that after chemotherapy with epirubicin, the numbers of cardiovascular risk factors were significantly correlated with strain parameters, and the correlation coefficient of EndoGLS was relatively higher (r=-0.582, P<0.001). Conclusions Layer-specific imaging can reliably detect the influences of cardiovascular risk factors on the left ventricular wall motion function in breast cancer patients treated with epirubicin. Parameters reflecting the endocardial longitudinal systolic function are sensitive indicators for the early detectin of myocardial damage and toxicity by epirubicin in patients with multiple cardiovascular risk factors. Key words: Two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging; Layer-specific imaging; Breast neoplasms; Epirubicin; Myocardial motion; Cardiovascular risk factors