ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Cardiovascular Imaging
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1612962
Global myocardial work parameters measured by the index beat method are comparable to the average of ten beats in patients during atrial fibrillation
Provisionally accepted- Beijing Tsinghua Changgeng Hospital, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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Introduction: Evaluation of left ventricular (LV) global systolic function is clinically significant for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), but rhythm irregularity intrinsic to AF poses challenges for assessment of novel LV systolic function parameters, global myocardial work (MW). This study was aimed to validate the feasibility of the single index beat method to quantify LV MW in patients AF during echocardiography as against the traditional average method over 10 beats.Methods: A prospective study was performed in 120 patients with AF during the index echocardiography. Global longitudinal strain was analyzed with speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) based on triplane dataset, followed by MW analysis to derive global myocardial work index (GWI), global constructive work (GCW), global wasted work (GWW) and global work efficiency (GWE). Consecutive 10 beats were evaluated. The average value and the maximal difference among the 10 beats were measured. The index beat was identified if the ratio of its preceding to prepreceding R-R interval approximated 1 (0.96~1.04). The index beat initiated MW parameters were extracted for analysis. Inter-method consistency was assessed by intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), single-rater, absolute agreement, and 2-way random effects model. Inter-and intra-observer reproducibility was also assessed.Global MW derived from the index beat were comparable with the average of 10 beats:
Keywords: Atrial Fibrillation, left ventricular systolic function, Index beat, Single beat, myocardial work
Received: 16 Apr 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kong, Wang, Chen, Xiang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fang Liu, Beijing Tsinghua Changgeng Hospital, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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