Although hypothermia has been employed as therapeutic tool to prevent hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy after perinatal asphyxia for many years, there is still a paucity of information regarding the myocardial performance during the therapeutic process. Therefore, this study is innovative, especially because regular and advanced echocardiographic parameters, including longitudinal, circumferential, and radial strain, twist and torsion deformations were employed.
According to the results, three major functional and hemodynamical manifestations can be taken into discussion: left ventricular cardioprotective effect; the hyperdynamic state after rewarming and right ventricular systolic function impairment.
Therapeutic hypothermia and its cardioprotective effect
According to our results, all parameters employed for assessing left ventricular function, both conventional (ejection and shortening fractions and Tei index) and with the advanced technologies (longitudinal, radial, circumferential strain, twist, and torsion), remained similar to the control group during the hypothermic stage. Following a hypoxic event, ventricular impairment resulting from a myocardial injury should be expected. However, hypothermia can reduce myocardial metabolism, in the same way that it reduces cerebral metabolism, and, therefore, less cell damage and myocardial function impairment is expected. The protective effect of hypothermia is provided mainly by decreasing its oxygen consumption and energy demand [8].
Analogously to our findings, Aggarwal and Natarajan [9] found similar shortening fractions in infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (submitted or not to therapeutic hypothermia) and in the control group. Hochwald et al [11] also did not find differences in the shortening fraction in newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy during hypothermia and after rewarming, when compared with the control group. Czernik et al [10] reported a similar shortening fraction in four examinations performed in the same population, two during hypothermia (beginning and end) and another two after rewarming (final and after 5 to 7 days). There was also no changes in the bidimensional global longitudinal strain, during and after hypothermia. In this study, no control group was included in the analysis.
Therefore, the maintenance of good ventricular function in the presence of an acute hypoxic insult could perhaps be attributed to a cardioprotective effect of hypothermia, in addition to denoting the safety of this treatment. This cardioprotection could only be proven if a statistical difference was demonstrated regarding the left ventricular function between babies with hypoxic insult at birth submitted or not to therapeutic hypothermia.
Hyperdynamic state after rewarming
The major hemodynamic change observed during the hypothermia was a lower heart rate. It was around 10 bpm lower for each cooling degree when compared to the rewarming period, similar to data described in the literature [4, 12]. After rewarming, the heart rate increased to levels above the control group. This finding may be justified as a consequence of a hyperdynamic cardiac state to reestablish the basal hemodynamic conditions [13, 14]. Neestas et al [15], described a similar heart rate behavior during hypothermia, however with no increase after rewarming.
Some echocardiographic ventricular systolic function parameters (left ventricular ejection/ shortening fraction and right ventricular s´ wave) were higher after rewarming compared to the control group. Such findings endorse the hyperdynamic heart state theory in this therapeutic phase. As mentioned before, Hochwald et al [11] described similar shortening fraction during hypothermia and after rewarming in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy when compared to the control group. However, the exams were performed much earlier after rewarming, what could interfere in the results found. We did not find other literature references about left ejection fraction and right ventricular s´ wave velocity performance in this population.
According to other reports4, both ventricles cardiac output, during hypothermia, corresponded to only 72% of the values calculated after rewarming. An interesting point was that, as in the study group (in both moments) as in the control group, the right cardiac output was up to 69% higher than the left cardiac output, what should not have been found, regarding that, in all cases, the patent foramen ovale and the persistent ductus arteriosus were so small that it would not explain systemic and pulmonary flows unbalance. We suspect this occurs because of a bigger right ventricular outflow tract diameter immediately after birth, due to predominance of right-side circulation in fetal life. Considering that it is used the outflow tract radius value squared for the cardiac output calculation, small differences in the outflow tracts diameters result in large divergences in the final value. Other factors that could influence the results would be that the outflow tract might not be exactly round but elliptic, and the Doppler sample placement for the velocity time integral measurement was not exactly in the same location where the outflow tract diameter was measured for the calculation of its area.
Right ventricular systolic function impairment
We could observe a similar pattern of right ventricular global longitudinal strain as well as pulmonary artery systolic pressure, both worse in the case group (two periods) in relation to the control group. Probably the high pulmonary pressure contributes directly for the right ventricular deformation decline, even though this has not been sufficient to modify the stroke volume. Regarding the right ventricular free wall longitudinal strain, such pattern was not seen after rewarming. The interventricular septum reflects the left ventricular vector forces in a bigger proportion than the right forces, this being the conceptual base to use only the free wall to evaluate the right ventricular deformation. Although, in the neonatal period, the interventricular septum must reflect right ventricular vector forces in bigger proportion, once this is the ventricle which connects to the systemic intrauterine flow. Therefore, we believe that the right ventricular global longitudinal strain can be more appropriate to evaluate the right ventricular deformation in the first days of life.
The fractional area change value was inferior only after rewarming, probably due to a greater number of neonates with pulmonary hypertension in this phase. Right ventricular Tei index also presented higher values during hypothermia, as observed in the right ventricular global longitudinal strain pattern.