Relationship of left ventricular global longitudinal strain with cardiac autonomic denervation as assessed by 123 I- m IBG scintigraphy in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction submitted to cardiac resynchronization therapy

Background Heart failure (HF) is associated with cardiac autonomic denervation (AD), which can be non-invasively assessed by 123 I- meta iodobenzylguanidine ( 123 I- m IBG) scintigraphy and has prognostic implications. We aimed to study the relationship between myocardial contractility assessed by global longitudinal strain (GLS) and AD assessed by 123 I- m IBG scintigraphy in advanced HF. Methods/Results BETTER-HF is a prospective randomized clinical trial including HF patients (pts) submitted to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) who are submitted to a clinical, echocardiographic, and scintigraphic assessment before and 6 months after CRT. 81 pts were included. An echocardiographic response (absolute increase in left ventricular ejection fraction ≥ 10%) was observed in 73.7% of pts. A higher baseline late heart-to-mediastinum ratio (HMR) was associated with a better echocardiographic response. There was a significant association between late HMR and GLS at baseline and 6 months. At baseline, GLS had an AUC of 0.715 for discrimination for a late HMR < 1.6. A GLS cut-off of − 9% maximized the likelihood of correctly classifying a pt as having severe AD (HMR < 1.6). Conclusion Myocardial contractility as assessed by GLS is moderately correlated with AD as assessed by 123 I- m IBG scintigraphy and has a good discrimination for the identification of severe cardiac denervation. GLS may allow for a more readily accessible estimation of the degree of AD in advanced HF pts.