Tissue Doppler Imaging Consistently Detects Myocardial Contraction and Relaxation Abnormalities, Irrespective of Cardiac Hypertrophy, in a Transgenic Rabbit Model of Human Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is diagnosed clinically by the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). However, LVH is absent in a significant number of genotype-positive patients. Because myocyte dysfunction and disarray are the primary abnormalities in HCM, we reasoned that tissue Doppler imaging could identify contraction and relaxation abnormalities, irrespective of hypertrophy, in a transgenic rabbit model of human HCM.M-mode, 2D,...