Evaluation of Strain and Torsion in Physiologic and Pathologic Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

Candida Laura Desjardins¹, Yong Chen, Julian Stelzer, Monica Montano, Michiko Watanabe¹, Xin Yu, ²

Cardiac responses to increased workload and environmental stresses may result in physiologic or pathologic remodeling of cardiomyocyte size and vascularization. Distinguishing pathologic from physiologic hypertrophy at an early stage could be critical for clinical management of patients. The discriminating factor between the physiologic and pathologic models of LVH lies in the timing of strain development. When faced with LVH in the presence of preserved function in a young patient, the difference in timing of strain development may be of clinical utility to discriminate between a benign athletes heart and HCM.