Abstract: Objective To assess cardiac function impairment in patients with cirrhosis, and to investigate the clinical value of Tei index measured by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) in evaluating cardiac function in patients with cirrhosis.Methods A total of 172 visits in our hospital from August 2017 to August 2018 were enrolled, including 92 cirrhosis patients as the liver cirrhosis group and 80 healthy individuals as the control group. According to the Child-Pugh grading standard, patients in the cirrhosis group were further divided into Child-Pugh A, B and C subgroups. The parameters of the cardiac structure and function were measured using echocardiography, including left atrial end-systolic diameter (LADs), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVDd), right atrial end-systolic diameter (RADs), right ventricular end-diastolic diameter (RVDd), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF), early-diastolic peak velocity (E) and late-diastolic peak velocity (A) of mitral and tricuspid valves. Then E/A ratio, left and right ventricle Tei indexes were calculated. All the parameters were analyzed among groups. Results 1. Compared with the control group, the cirrhotic group showed significantly increased LADs (37.15±4.13 vs. 35.26±3.28, P< 0.05) and LVDd (49.29±2.94 vs. 47.93±3.10, P<0.05). While there was no significant difference in RADs and RVDd between the 2 groups (P>0.05). 2. The Tei index of left ventricular in the liver cirrhosis group was significantly higher than that in the control group (0.48±0.06 vs. 0.41±0.04, P<0.05), and as was the Tei index of right ventricular (0.42±0.05 vs. 0.38±0.05, P<0.05). While there was no significant difference in LVEF, RVEF, and E/A ratio between the 2 groups (P>0.05). 3. The Tei index of left ventricular in Child-Pugh A, B and C subgroups were 0.45±0.05, 0.48±0.06 and 0.51±0.06, respectively. The Tei index of right ventricular in the 3 subgroups were 0.39±0.05, 0.42±0.06 and 0.44±0.04, respectively. The Tei index of left and right ventricular increased gradually with the increase of Child-Pugh score, and the differences were statistically significant in the 3 subgroups (P<0.05).Conclusion The left cardiac structure has changed in patients with cirrhosis, and both left and right cardiac functions are reduced in different degrees. Tei index measured by TDI has simple and accurate application value in overall evaluation of cardiac function in patients with cirrhosis.

Key words: Liver cirrhosis, Child-Pugh grading, Cardiac function, Tissue Doppler imaging, Tei index