PURPOSE: To evaluate Doppler ultrasound (US) tissue imaging for assessment of stimulated skeletal muscle contraction.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven patients were studied after left latissimus dorsi cardiomyoplasty. Myograft contraction programmed on alternate cardiac cycles was assessed with Doppler US tissue imaging. Beat-to-beat variation in inferior wall motion was assessed by examining peak myograft velocities during 10 muscle-assisted and 10 nonassisted cardiac cycles. The temporal relationship between electrostimulation and myograft contraction, changes in cardiac geometry, and the effect of alterations in stimulation voltage and muscle synchronization were assessed.
RESULTS: Significant beat-to-beat variation in velocity profile could be detected in the proximal myograft in six patients (P < .05). Potentiation of infero-posterior wall motion was measurable in five patients (mean peak systolic wall velocity: nonassisted, 2.5 cm.sec-1 +/- 0.5 [standard deviation]; assisted, 7.8 cm.sec-1 +/- 6.3). The response between stimulation voltage and inferoposterior wall velocity was sigmoid.
CONCLUSION: Doppler US tissue imaging depicted the effects of myostimulator programming on muscle contraction and ventricular wall motion.
