Objective To evaluate left ventricular systolic function in gout patients with two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (2D-STI).Methods 60 gout patients were selected and divided into group I (duration of disease <10 years

30 cases) and group II (duration of disease ≥10 years

30 cases) according to the course of disease

and 30 cases of healthy control group were selected. Conventional parameters were measured by transthoracic echocardiography

and 2D-STI was used to obtain the left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LVGLS) and the longitudinal strain values of each section (LVLS-AP4

AP2

AP3)

and the differences in the above data between groups were compared. The serum uric acid and creatinine levels of three groups of subjects were detected and the differences were compared. Pearson and Spearson correlation was used to analyze whether there was a correlation between LV GLS and serum uric acid

creatinine and disease duration. Results Serum uric acid and creatinine levels in gout groups I and II were significantly higher than those in the control group

and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). There were significant differences in IVS

LVEDD

LVPW

LVESD

LVEDV

LVESV between gout groups I and II compared with the normal control group

but there was no obvious difference between the gout groups.Compared with the control group

the global and each section longitudinal peak strains of the left ventricle in gout groups I and II were decreased (P<0.05).The result of correlation analysis showed there was no correlation between LV GLS and serum uric acid and creatinine levels (all P>0.05).However LV GLS was negatively correlated with disease duration (r=-0.477，P<0.05).Conclusion The left ventricular systolic function of gout patients has been damaged

and the impairment of left ventricular systolic function increases with the extension of disease duration. 2D-STI technology can evaluate the changes of left ventricular systolic function in gout patients at early stages.