Left ventricular mechanical dispersion is associated with nonsustained ventricular tachycardia in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Objective: We assessed the value of speckle tracking two-dimensional (2D) strain echocardiography (2DSE) measured mechanical dispersion (MD) with other imaging and electrocardiographic parameters in differentiating hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients with and without nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT) on 24-h ambulatory ECG monitoring.Methods and results: We studied 31 patients with HCM caused by the Finnish founder mutation MYBPC3-Q1061X and 20 control subjects with comprehensive 2DSE echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI). The presence of NSVT was assessed from ambulatory 24-h ECG monitoring.NSVT episodes were recorded in 11 (35%) patients with HCM. MD was significantly higher in HCM patients with NSVT (9341ms) compared to HCM patients without NSVT (5018ms, p=0.012) and control subjects (4116ms, p<0.001). MD was the only variable independently associated with the presence of NSVT (OR: 1.60, 95% CI: 1.05-2.45, p=0.030). Assessed by ROC curves, MD performed best in differentiating between HCM patients with and without NSVT (AUC=0.81).Conclusions: Increased mechanical dispersion was associated with NSVT in HCM patients on 24-h ambulatory ECG monitoring. Key messagesThe prediction of sudden cardiac death in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy remains a challenge and novel imaging methods are required to identify individuals at risk of malignant ventricular arrhythmias.Mechanical dispersion by speckle tracking echocardiography is associated with NSVT on 24-h ambulatory ECG monitoring in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy