Speckle tracking echocardiography of right and left ventricles in children of atrial septal defect and ventricular septal defect

Background Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) is utilized to evaluate and quantify the heart muscle’s strain and deformation. Aim To assess early myocardial insult in children with atrial septal defect (ASD)/ventricular septal defect (VSD) using STE and to assess left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) systolic function using STE. Patients and methods This cross-sectional study involved 40 infants and children having isolated VSD or isolated secundum ASD and 20 healthy children as controls. Tissue Doppler and STE were performed to assess the systolic function of RV and LV in these children. Results RV and LV functions in cases with ASD by tissue Doppler measures were insignificantly different between ASD and the control group. Regarding LV function in the ASD group, systolic strain rate (SS) exhibited significantly greater values among ASD cases as opposed to controls ( P <0.05). Regarding RV function within the ASD group, SS, systolic function (S), early diastolic strain rate (E’), and late diastolic strain rate (A’) exhibited insignificant variance among ASD cases as well as controls. Regarding LV functions, SS, S, E’, and A’ by STE exhibited insignificantly variance among VSD cases and controls. Regarding RV functions, SS and A’ were significantly different when measured by STE between VSD cases and the control group. Conclusions Speckling tracking use showed potential benefits while assessing LV/RV function among cases of ASD as well as VSD.