Alterations in left ventricular function assessed by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography and the clinical utility of cardiac troponin i in survivors of high-voltage electrical injury

OBJECTIVE: There has been limited study regarding the effects of high-voltage electrical injury on left ventricular (LV) function, as well as the clinical utility of using cardiac troponin I (cTnI) to assess such injuries. We investigated changes in LV function by using two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging, and we also studied the clinical utility of cTnI for predicting myocardial damage in survivors of high-voltage electrical injury. DESIGN: Prospective clinical study. SETTING: Burn care unit and echocardiography laboratory of a university hospital. PATIENTS: Twenty male patients surviving a high-voltage electrical injury. INTERVENTIONS: From July 2006 to October 2007, 20 patients suffering from high-voltage electrical injury were prospectively evaluated. A serial echocardiogram was obtained from each patient on hospital days 1, 3, and 7. Serum cTnI levels were drawn at baseline and every 6 hours for the first 24 hours. All parameters of the study patients were compared with age-, sex-, and body mass index-matched healthy controls. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: On the day of admission and during follow-up, there were no significant differences in LV dimension, stroke volume index, LV fractional shortening, LV ejection fraction, or peak systolic strain as compared with the controls. In contrast to the peak systolic strain, the peak systolic strain rate was significantly increased at baseline and during follow-up for the patient group. There were no significant differences in LV systolic function parameters between the two groups according to the level of cTnI. CONCLUSION: The current study demonstrates that LV dysfunction after high-voltage electrical injury is uncommon, and that the serum cTnI level does not seem to be a useful diagnostic test for predicting impairment of LV contractility in patients who did not experience cardiac arrest or fatal arrhythmia.