Background: Global longitudinal strain (GLS) is a sensitive marker of myocardial dysfunction that could help predict adverse outcomes.
Purpose: We assessed whether GLS can help predict adverse clinical outcomes in patients after acute ischemic stroke (AIS).
Methods: Patients without LV dysfunction after AIS were divided into groups according to abnormal GLS (≤15.9%) or normal GLS (≥16%). Blood samples were obtained to determine levels of high-sensitive troponin I (hs-cTnI). Clinical data, functional outcome, and all-cause mortality at 1 year were compared between groups. National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) at the time of admission and the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) 90 days following the patient’s discharge from the hospital were used to assess stroke severity and clinical outcome.
Results: In our study, 155 enrolled patients after AIS had echocardiographic examination, due to image quality or LV dysfunction , GLS was assessed in 110 patients with normal LV function, 28 patients (25.6%) had abnormal GLS. After a year follow-up, the overall mortality was more common in patients with abnormal GLS compared to patients with normal GLS (hazard ratio [HR] 2.9610, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.9015 to 9.7255, p =0.074) and was significant when comparing mean values (p<0.001) (Fig. 1A). The Kaplan-Meier survival curve accentuated a significantly elevated all-cause mortality among patients with abnormal GLS (Fig 2). Moreover, abnormal GLS was associated with positive hs-cTnI (Fig. 1B), and was connected with unfavorable functional outcome evaluated by mRS at 90 days (Fig. 1C). At last, severe stroke (NIHSS >15) was not significantly associated with abnormal GLS (HR 2.2121, 95% CI 0.7091 to 6.9009, p = 0.1714)
Conclusion: In patients after AIS, abnormal GLS could be helpful predictor for clinical events and subclinical myocardial injury.