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Right ventricular function assessed by tissue Doppler echocardiography in older subjects without evidence for structural cardiac disease

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Abstract

The aim of our study was to obtain right ventricular (RV) tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) data in older subjects (n = 95, mean age: 74.5 ± 4.6 years) without evidence of hemodynamically significant structural heart disease recruited from a large population-based cohort (ActiFE-Ulm study). Our data indicate that aging may be accompanied by decreasing RV diastolic function and at most little alterations of RV systolic function. Mean values of all parameters were still within the guideline-suggested reference range with most of them closer to the abnormality thresholds. On an individual basis, respective thresholds were also exceeded in some subjects (almost all parameters <20 %) despite the absence of evidence for structural cardiac disease. RV-TDI is a feasible method for evaluation of RV systolic and diastolic function also in a geriatric population as sufficient TDI data was obtainable in the majority of our participants. Published reference values also seem to be mostly suitable although among older subjects, presumed pathological measures might still be compatible with physiological age-related alterations. Therefore, they always have to be interpreted across the clinical context and in relation to other parameters of morphology and function obtained by other ultrasound imaging techniques (M-mode, B-mode, etc.) in the context of echocardiographic evaluation of the right heart.

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Acknowledgments

The study was funded partly by a grant from the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts, State of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany and by own means.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Sports and Rehabilitation Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine II (Cardiology), University of Ulm, Leimgrubenweg 14, 89070, Ulm, Germany

    Roman Laszlo, Tobias Baumann, Hanna Konz & Juergen Michael Steinacker

  2. AGAPLESION Bethesda Clinic, Geriatric Medicine, University of Ulm, Zollernring 26, 89073, Ulm, Germany

    Dhayana Dallmeier & Michael Denkinger

  3. Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, University of Ulm, Helmholtzstr. 22, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    Jochen Klenk & Dietrich Rothenbacher

  4. Klinik für Herz-& Kreislauferkrankungen, Deutsches Herzzentrum München, Technische Universität München, Lazarettstr. 36, 80636, Munich, Germany

    Wolfgang Koenig

Authors
  1. Roman Laszlo
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  2. Tobias Baumann
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  3. Hanna Konz
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  4. Dhayana Dallmeier
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  5. Jochen Klenk
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  6. Michael Denkinger
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  7. Wolfgang Koenig
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  8. Dietrich Rothenbacher
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  9. Juergen Michael Steinacker
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for the ActiFe Study

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Correspondence to Roman Laszlo.

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All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Ethical Committee of the University of Ulm and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Laszlo, R., Baumann, T., Konz, H. et al. Right ventricular function assessed by tissue Doppler echocardiography in older subjects without evidence for structural cardiac disease. Aging Clin Exp Res 29, 557–562 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-016-0590-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-016-0590-x

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