Features of structural and geometric remodeling of the heart and changes in heart diastolic filling in patients with chronic heart failure of ischemic genesis with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction
Authors: Lysenko V. A. 
Published: April 2021

Chronic heart failure (CHF) does not lose its leading position among the problems of cardiovascular disease. Pathological cardiac remodeling combines the processes of hypertrophy and dilatation of cavities and is the main cause of heart failure progression, and consequently results in high cardiac mortality, especially in CHF patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LV EF). Despite a substantial range of studies on the features of structural and geometric remodeling of the heart, changes in systolic and diastolic function of the ventricles in CHF patients, this issue still presents a challenge and needs to be improved.
The aim of the work – to examine changes in structural and geometric parameters and diastolic function of the heart in patients with CHF of ischemic genesis with reduced LV EF.
Materials and methods. The study included 79 patients (men – n = 49; women – n = 30) with CHF of ischemic origin with reduced LV EF, sinus rhythm, stage II AB, NYHA II-IV FC (the main group), and 90 patients with coronary heart disease without signs of CHF (men – n = 40, 44.5 %; women – n = 50, 55.5 %), (the comparison group). The patient groups were age-, sex-, height-, weight-, body surface area-matched. Doppler echocardiographic examination was performed on the device Esaote MyLab Eight (Italy).
Results. In CHF patients with reduced LV EF, the following indicators prevailed: EDD LV by 18 % (P = 0.001), LV EDV by 45.8 % (P = 0.001), LV EDV index by 44.6 % (P = 0.001), LV ESD by 44.9 % (P = 0.001), PW by 17.7 % (P = 0.001), LV mass index by 66.6 % (P = 0.001) according to the Penn Convention, and by 62.1 % (P = 0.001) according to the ASE; 16.1 % (P = 0.010) increased RV cavity without changes in its wall thickness. In patients with CHF of ischemic origin with reduced LV EF, the main types of LV geometry were: eccentric (70 %) and concentric (24 %) LV hypertrophy. More than half of the CHF patients with reduced LV EF had significant disorders of LV diastolic filling (25 % – “restrictive” and 28 % “pseudonormal”), a 2.3 times increase (P = 0.001) in E/e’ ratio, a 35 % (P = 0.014) increase in the left atrial volume index and 32 % (P = 0.0001) – in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), increased mean and systolic pressure in the pulmonary artery by 1.5 times (P = 0.002) and 1.6 times (P = 0.0001), respectively.
Conclusions. Structural and geometric remodeling of the left ventricle in patients with CHF of ischemic origin with reduced LV EF occurs due to an increase in LV myocardial mass via thickening of its walls and cavity dilatation (44.6 % (P = 0.001) increase in the LV EDV index), as well as 66.6 % (P = 0.001) increase in LV mass index with the predominance of eccentric (70 %) and concentric hypertrophy (24 %) over other types of LV geometry. Severe disorders of LV diastolic filling (25 % – “restrictive” and 28 % “pseudonormal”) are attributable to the significant increase in end-diastolic pressure in the left ventricle (2.3 times increase (P = 0.001) in E/e´) with the development of postcapillary pulmonary hypertension (1.5 times increase (P = 0.002) in the mean and 1.6 times (P = 0.0001) – in systolic pressure in the pulmonary artery).