The purpose of this study was to study myocardial performance index among women with preeclampsia and correlate MPI with circulating anti angiogenic factor levels.
One hundred twenty one women with diagnosis of preeclampsia (n = 48), normal pregnancy (n = 73) were studied. Plasma was collected and levels of anti angiogenic proteins (soluble fms like tyrosine kinase- sFlt1 and soluble endoglin sEng) were measured using enzyme linked immune sorbent assay. All patients had an echocardiogram performed at the time of diagnosis. Blood sample were collected within 24 hours of echocardiogram.
Patients with preeclampsia had higher mean sFlt1 (pg/ml) and sEng (ng/ml) compared to normal patients (19243 vs 3816 and 47 vs 11, respectively, both p < 0.001). Preeclamptic patients had higher MPI compared to normal patients (0.48 vs 0.44, p = 0.04). Worsening MPI was significantly correlated to increasing sFlt1 (p = 0.04) and sEng levels (p = 0.03). In addition we found worsening left ventricular relaxation times to be correlated with increasing sFlt1 and sEng levels (both p < 0.001).
Worsening myocardial performance as measured by MPI was seen among women with preeclampsia and these changes correlated with increasing antiangiogenic factors like sFlt1 and sEng. Further studies are needed to validate these findings and evaluate whether these changes remain persistent postpartum.