Myocardial Structural Alteration and Systolic Dysfunction in Preclinical Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Mutation Carriers

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the presence of myocardial structural alterations and subtle myocardial dysfunction during familial screening in asymptomatic mutation carriers without hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) phenotype. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Sixteen HCM families with pathogenic mutation were studied and 46 patients with phenotype expression (Mut+/Phen+) and 47 patients without phenotype expression (Mut+/Phen−) were observed. Twenty-five control subjects, matched with the Mut+/Phen− group, were recruited for comparison. Echocardiography was performed to evaluate conventional parameters, myocardial structural alteration by calibrated integrated backscatter (cIBS) and global and segmental longitudinal strain by speckle tracking analysis. All 3 groups had similar left ventricular dimensions and ejection fraction. Basal anteroseptal cIBS was the highest in Mut+/Phen+ patients (−14.0±4.6 dB, p<0.01) and was higher in Mut+/Phen− patients as compared to controls (−17.0±2.3 vs. −22.6±2.9 dB, p<0.01) suggesting significant myocardial structural alterations. Global and basal anteroseptal longitudinal strains (−8.4±4.0%, p<0.01) were the most impaired in Mut+/Phen+ patients as compared to the other 2 groups. Although global longitudinal strain was similar between Mut+/Phen− group and controls, basal anteroseptal strain was lower in Mut+/Phen− patients (−14.1±3.8%, p<0.01) as compared to controls (−19.9±2.9%, p<0.01), suggesting a subclinical segmental systolic dysfunction. A combination of >−19.0 dB basal anteroseptal cIBS or >−18.0% basal anteroseptal longitudinal strain had a sensitivity of 98% and a specificity of 72% in differentiating Mut+/Phen− group from controls. CONCLUSION: The use of cIBS and segmental longitudinal strain can differentiate HCM Mut+/Phen− patients from controls with important clinical implications for the family screening and follow-up of these patients.