Assessing right ventricular deformation in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients with preserved right ventricular ejection fraction: a 3.0-T cardiovascular magnetic resonance study

To assess the global and regional right ventricular (RV) deformation in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients with preserved right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) using 3.0-T cardiovascular magnetic resonance tissue tracking (CMR-TT). Eighty-two HCM patients and 32 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled. HCM patients were divided into groups depending on the presence or absence of right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH), RV late gadolinium enhancement (RV-LGE), and left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO), respectively. The RV global and apical longitudinal peak strain (LPS) in HCM patients with RVH were significantly lower than that in HCM patients without RVH and controls (P < 0.05). The global, apical and mid-ventricular LPS in HCM patients with RV-LGE were significantly lower than that in HCM patients without RV-LGE and controls (P < 0.05). Lower LPS was demonstrated in HCM patients without RV-LGE compared with controls in apical and mid-ventricular levels (P < 0.05). No significant difference was found regarding global and regional LPS in HCM patients with LVOTO compared without LVOTO (all P > 0.05). CMR-TT was able to detect subclinical RV myocardial deformation prior to RVEF impairment, which was more severe in the presence of RVH and RV-LGE.