Tei Index Obtained from Tissue Doppler Imaging: Correlation with Ntprobnp Levels in Patients with Dilated Cardiomiopathy

The myocardial performance index (Tei index) determined by the pulsed Doppler is a simple and noninvasive measurement for assessing global left ventricular (LV) function. This index can also be obtained by tissue Doppler imaging (Tei-TDI). The purpose of our study was to assess the relationship between Tei-TDI and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NTproBNP) levels in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Conventional echocardiography and TDI were performed simultaneously with NTproBNP in 50 consecutive patients with DCM, in sinus rhythm. We demonstrated the best linear correlation between Tei-TDI and NTproBNP. The optimal Tei-TDI cut-off for prediction of NTproBNP levels >900 pg/ml was 0.66 (sensitivity of 73% and specificity of 71%). Tei-TDI had a good accuracy to predict high NTproBNP levels and could be used for the global echocardiographic estimation of the LV function in patients with DCM.