Topographical Association Between Left Ventricular Strain and Brain Lesions in Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke and Normal Cardiac Function

Abstract

Background Although it is well known that the disordered brain provokes cardiac autonomic dysfunction, the detailed location of brain lesions related to cardiac function warrants further investigation. We aimed to elucidate the brain lesions topographically associated with left ventricular (LV) systolic function measured by myocardial strain in patients with acute ischemic stroke without preexisting primary cardiac dysfunction by using support vector regression lesion‐symptom mapping. Methods and Results Subjects were those with LV ejection fraction of 50% or more among patients with acute ischemic stroke registered in the Samsung Medical Center stroke registry between 2016 and 2017. To evaluate LV systolic performance and contractility, we measured LV ejection fraction and LV global and regional longitudinal strain using 2‐dimensional speckle‐tracking echocardiography. The association between stroke lesion location and cardiac strain was assessed using support vector regression lesion‐symptom mapping. Of a total of 776 patients, 286 subjects (mean age of 67.0 years, 65.4% men) were finally enrolled in this study. The mean global longitudinal strain was −17.0±3.4%, and the mean LV ejection fraction was 64.7±5.7%. The support vector regression lesion‐symptom mapping analysis revealed that the right insula and peri‐insular regions and left parietal cortex were associated with impaired LV global longitudinal strain in patients with acute ischemic stroke. In addition, impaired regional longitudinal strain showed topographical associations with these regions. Conclusions This study suggests that brain lesions in the right insula and peri‐insular regions and left parietal cortex are topographically associated with impaired LV strain in patients with acute ischemic stroke without preexisting cardiac dysfunction.