Echocardiographic Myocardial Imaging Reveals Segmental Cardiomyopathy in Churg-Strauss Syndrome

Cardiovascular involvement is the leading cause of morbidity and death in Churg-Strauss syndrome. Herein, we describe the case of a 47-year-old man with Churg-Strauss syndrome, in whom the use of novel echocardiographic techniques revealed segmental cardiomyopathy. Tissue Doppler and speckle-tracking imaging showed that both longitudinal and radial strain were impaired at the septal level and that the impairment of circumferential strain affected left ventricular torsion. Our case shows that advanced echocardiography with myocardial strain imaging in multiple vectors can identify systolic-diastolic abnormalities in a patient with myocardial infiltration and a normal left ventricular ejection fraction. (Tex Heart lint J 2010;37(5):594-7)