Aim.To assess the characteristics of changes in the shape of the left ventricular (LV) during the cardiac cycle in premature infants (38 weeks postconceptual age) compared to full-term newborns on the first day of life.
Methods. Preterm infants at 38 weeks postconceptional age (n=26, gestational age 26-28 weeks, birth weight 748-1036 g) and a control group of healthy full-term infants (n=40, gestational age 38-40 weeks, birth weight 3200-3700 g) on day 1 of life. 2D echocardiography was used to visualize the heart throughout the cardiac cycle. Methods of geometric morphometry and functional geometry (index of spatial and temporal heterogeneity, index of sphericity, conicity, shape complexity) were used to evaluate shape changes during the cardiac cycle. Results. Geometric morphometric features of changes in LV shape in preterm infants compared with full-term infants in the systolic and diastolic phases of the cycle were demonstrated. Preterm infants have statistically significantly reduced apical kinetics compared to full-term infants. The LV wall motion asynchrony index is also significantly higher in preterm versus term infants. Significant differences were found for the systolic sphericity index in preterm compared to term infants; the shape of the LV is less spherical in preterm compared to term infants.
Conclusion. Geometric morphometric features were extracted about the changing LV shape during the cardiac cycle in preterm infants at 38 weeks postconceptional age. Significant differences in LV shape dynamics were found in the systolic and diastolic phases of the cardiac cycle compared to full-term infants. These differences need to be further investigated to predict the risk of cardiopathy in early childhood.
This work was supported by Russian Science Foundation Grant # 24-25-20110