Objective To explore the value of speckle tracking imaging（STI）and cardiac catheterization in the differential diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis（CP）and restrictive cardiomyopathy（RCM）.MethodsForty-eight CP patients（CP group）and 30 RCM patients（RCM group）confirmed by surgery and pathology in our hospital were selected.Both two groups underwent STI and cardiac catheterization

and the differences of STI and cardiac catheterization indicators were analyzed.The receiver operating characteristic（ROC）curve was drawn to analyze the differential diagnosis value of the two methods for CP and RCM

the Logistic regression model was used to obtain the combined STI and cardiac catheterization values

and further analyze their diagnostic efficacy.ResultsSTI showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the circumferential strain（CS）of the apex

papillary muscle and fundus of the two groups

while the radial strain（RS）and longitudinal strain（LS）of the apex

papillary muscle and fundus of the CP group were higher than those of RCM group

and the differences were statistically significant（all P<0.05）.Cardiac catheterization showed that the pulmonary wedge pressure

left ventricular diastolic pressure and right ventricular systolic pressure between the two groups were not statistically significant

while the aortic systolic pressure and pulmonary artery systolic pressure in CP group were lower than those in RCM group

the differences were statistically significant（all P<0.05）.ROC curve showed that the area under the curve of apical RS

apical LS

papillary muscleRS

papillary muscle LS

heart base RS

heart base LS

aortic systolic pressure

pulmonary artery systolic pressure in the differential diagnosis of CP and RCM were 0.915

0.756

0.749

0.751

0.758

0.749

0.759

0.773

respectively.The area under the curve of STI and cardiac catheterization in the differential diagnosis of CP and RCM were 0.917 and 0.852

respectively

and the difference was not statistically significan（tZ=1.245

P=0.213）.ConclusionSTI and cardiac catheterization are helpful for the differential diagnosis of CP and RCM

but STI is more valuable

with the advantages of non-invasive

and worthy of clinical application.