Predominant inner-half wall thickening of left ventricle is attenuated in dilated cardiomyopathy: an application of tissue doppler tracking technique

The importance of the inner half (IH) of the left ventricular (LV) wall has been reported in hearts that contract normally. However, it is difficult to verify this fact in an in vivo human heart with clinical echocardiography. By using a recently developed tissue Doppler tracking technique, we could assess the systolic wall thickening of the IH and outer half (OH) of the LV wall in 11 normal and 7 dilated cardiomyopathic hearts. Percent wall thickening and the fractional contribution of the IH and OH to the transmural wall thickening were calculated. In healthy subjects, percent wall thickening of the IH, OH, and transmural wall of the left ventricle were 75.8% ± 24.1%, 39.4% ± 14.4% (P