Clinical Utility of Echocardiographic Strain and Strain Rate Measurements

Abstract

Purpose of Review: Assessment of left ventricular function is pivotal in many decisions, but ejection fraction has fundamental limitations for assessment of mild dysfunction, and especially for repeated assessments. Myocardial deformation imaging using speckle-tracking is widely available on modern echocardiography systems, and is now feasible as a clinical, rather than purely a research tool. Strain can be measured in all cardiac chambers, most commonly as a systolic parameter, although it can be measured in diastole. Generally, speckle tracking is more effective at measuring strain than strain-rate, which requires a higher temporal resolution. The purpose of this review is to help clinicia..