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BACKGROUND: A considerable number of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) experience left ventricular reverse remodeling (LVRR). LV global longitudinal strain (LV GLS) offers sensitive and reproducible measurement of myocardial dysfunction. The authors sought to evaluate whether LV GLS at the time of diagnosis may predict LVRR in DCM patients with sinus rhythm and investigate its prognostic role in long-term follow-up in this population. METHODS: We enrolled 160 DCM patients with sinus rhythm who had been initially diagnosed, evaluated, and followed at our institute. We analyzed their medical records and echocardiographic data. RESULTS: During the mean follow-up duration of 37.3 ± 21.7 months, LVRR occurred in 28% of patients (n = 45). The initial LV ejection fraction (LVEF) of patients who recovered LV function was 26.1 ± 7.9%, which was not significantly different from the value of 27.1 ± 7.4% (p = 0.49) in those who did not recover. There was a moderate and highly significant correlation between baseline LV GLS (−%) and follow-up LVEF (r = 0.717; p < 0.001). Using multivariate Cox analysis, LV GLS (hazard ratio: 1.474, 95% confidence interval: 1.170-1.856; p = 0.001) was an independent predictor of LVRR. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that LV GLS was an independent predictor for LVRR and the optimal cutoff point of LV GLS for LVRR was −10% in DCM patients with sinus rhythm. There was a significant correlation between baseline LV GLS and follow-up LVEF.

BACKGROUND Oxidized phospholipids on apolipoprotein B-100 (OxPL-apoB) is a biomarker of increased risk for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in community cohorts, but its role in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD) is unknown. OBJECTIVES We sought to examine the relationship of these oxidative biomarkers to cardiovascular outcomes in patients with established CHD. METHODS In a random sample from the Treating to New Targets trial, OxPL-apoB levels were measured in 1,503 patients at randomization (after an 8-week run-in period on atorvastatin 10 mg) and 1 year after being randomized to atorvastatin 10 mg or 80 mg. We examined the association between baseline levels of OxPL-apoB and MACE, defined as death from CHD, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), resuscitation after cardiac arrest, and fatal/ nonfatal stroke, as well as the effect of statin therapy on OxPL-apoB levels and MACE. RESULTS Patients with events (n = 156) had higher randomization levels of OxPL-apoB than those without events (p = 0.025). For the overall cohort, randomization levels of OxPL-apoB predicted subsequent MACE (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.21; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04 to 1.41; p = 0.018) per doubling and tertile 3 versus tertile 1 (HR: 1.69; CI: 1.14 to 2.49; p = 0.01) after multivariate adjustment for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), among others, and treatment assignment. The HR per doubling and by tertiles of OxPL-apoB remained significant in the low-dose but not the high-dose atorvastatin group. CONCLUSIONS Elevated OxPL-apoB levels predict secondary MACE in patients with stable CHD, a risk that is mitigated by atorvastatin 80 mg.