‘Tissue Doppler’ May Detect Early Heart Problems in DMD

A technique that can be applied in conjunction with a standard echocardiogram (an ultrasound picture of the heart) can add to the sensitivity of this procedure for people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), according to the results of a study conducted at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.

The results, announced at a meeting of the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) in Boston in June, say adding tissue doppler imaging, which measures how fast the heart’s walls move, can identify early changes in the heart muscle before serious symptoms of cardiac abnormalities occur.

Schuping Ge, a pediatric cardiologist at Baylor and Texas Children’s and the lead author of the study, is quoted in an ASE press release as saying, “We wanted to find a way to detect early, minor changes of the heart muscle in hopes of guiding early therapy that can slow down or reverse those changes.”

Cardiologist and MDA research grantee Elizabeth McNally at the University of Chicago Hospitals said the study “suggests that tissue doppler during echocardiograms is useful to help identify even earlier those boys with DMD at risk of developing cardiomyopathy.”