Citation

Park KH, Han SJ, Kim HS, Jo SH, Kim SA, Choi SW, Kim SH, Park WJ. Crit. Care 2013; 17(1): R26.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/cc12506

PMID

23388054

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: There are limited long-term follow-up data on functional changes in the myocardium after high-voltage electrical injury (HVEI). METHODS: Twenty-three patients who had been exposed to HVEI (> 20,000 volts) and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction ([greater than or equal to]55%) were enrolled the study. Echocardiographic parameters including peak systolic strain (S) and strain rate (SR) were evaluated at baseline, 6 weeks, and 6 months later. These data were compared with healthy control group who were matched in terms of age, sex, and body mass index. RESULTS: The systolic and diastolic blood pressure and the heart rate were significantly higher in the HVEI group compared with the control group at baseline and at 6-week, but not at the 6-month follow-up. Conventional echocardiographic data showed no differences between the groups during the study period. In contrast to the S, the baseline and 6-week SR was significantly increased in the HVEI group compared with the control group. However, at the 6-month follow-up, there was no difference in the SR between the groups. Among the twenty-three patients with HVEI, 17 of the patients had vertical current injury, and six patients had horizontal current injury. There was no difference in terms of the conventional echocardiography, S, and SR between the patients with vertical injury and those with horizontal injury at baseline and at the 6-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The long-term contractile performance of the myocardium is preserved when patient do not experience left ventricular dysfunction in the early stages after HVEI.

Language: en