Ana Garcia-Martin

and 8 more

Aims. The management of patients with asymptomatic significant aortic regurgitation (sAR) is often challenging and appropriate timing of aortic valve surgery remains controversial. Prognostic value of diastolic parameters has been demonstrated in several cardiac diseases. In particular, left atrial (LA) function has been shown to be an important determinant of morbimortality. The purpose of this study was to analyze the prognostic significance of diastolic function in asymptomatic patients with sAR. Methods and results. A total of 126 patients with asymptomatic sAR were included. Conventional echocardiographic systolic and diastolic function parameters were assessed. LA auto-strain analysis was performed in a subgroup of 57 patients. During a mean follow up of 33±19 months, 25 (19,8%) patients reached the combined end-point. Univariate analysis showed that LV volumes, LVEF, E wave, E/e’ ratio, LA volume and LA reservoir strain (LASr) were significant predictors of events. Multivariate model 1 that tested all echocardiographic variables statistically significant in the univariate model showed that LVEDV [HR=1,02;95% CI:1,01-1,03 (p<0,001)] and E/e’ ratio [HR=1,12;95% CI:1,03-1,23 (p=0,01)] were significant predictors of events. In the subgroup of patients with LA auto-strain analyzed, a second multivariate model including the previous significant variables for the first model as well as LASr, showed that LVEDV [HR=1,05;95% CI:1,01-1,08 (p=0,016)] and LASr [HR=0,8;95% CI:0,65-0,98 (p<0,035)] were the most significant predictors of cardiovascular events. Conclusions. In this population of asymptomatic patients with sAR and normal LV systolic function, baseline diastolic parameters were prognostic markers of cardiovascular events; among them, LASr played a strong independent predictor role.