Assessment of right ventricular systolic function in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy by layer-specific speckle tracking echocardiography

Background: Right ventricular (RV) functional abnormalities significantly impact the clinical presentation and prognosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients. The aim of this study was to assess RV systolic function across the three myocardial layers using two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D-STE) and its derived layer-specific strain (LSS) in HCM patients with or without RV hypertrophy (RVH). Methods: This cross-sectional study consecutively enrolled 102 HCM patients (HCMs) and 50 healthy controls (HCs). Patients with HCM were divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of RVH, according to RV wall thickness (RVWT). RV and left ventricular (LV) echocardiographic parameters were assessed using conventional echocardiography, tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), and 2D-STE. Results: Significant differences were observed in RV global longitudinal strain (RVGLS), RVGLSendo, RVGLSmid, RVGLSepi, RV free wall strain (RVFWS), RVFWSendo, RVFWSmid, and RVFWSepi among the three groups (all P