Tissue Doppler Echocardiography: Assessment of the Cardiac functions in an infants of diabetic mothers

Abstract

Background: Diabetes in pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of complications in both the mother and fetus. Transient cardiac hypertrophy occurs in infants of diabetic mothers. Thus the aim of this study was to determine the changes in left ventricular function by Tissue Doppler echocardiography in an  infants of diabetic mothers.

Material and Methods: This was a case controlled study comprised of 15infant of diabetic mothers ( cases ) and 15 healthy term babies (controls ). M-mode, Two-Dimensional, Doppler and Tissue Doppler Imaging measurements of cases and controls were performed.

Results: There were 09 males and 06 females in the cases group. Both the left and right ventricle myocardial velocities were found to be lower in the infant of diabetic mothers compared to the control group. The E’/A’ ratio was found to be less than one in the left ventricle, right ventricular and septum in cases as compare to control group. The Tei index was found to be higher in the infant of diabetic mothers who had a thicker interventricular septum compared to the control group.

Conclusions: Tissue Doppler echocardiographyis a useful, sensitive, non-invasive technique to study the changes in myocardial structure and function. The systolic and diastolic function indices measures are affected in babies of diabetic mothers as compare to normal neonates but not statistically significant.