A practical approach to using strain echocardiography to evaluate the left ventricle

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Medical Imaging
• Echocardiography

Background:

• Echocardiography is crucial for left ventricular (LV) evaluation.
• Speckle tracking strain echocardiography (SE) provides quantitative LV assessment but faces challenges in routine adoption.
• Existing SE methods can be complex and time-consuming, hindering widespread clinical use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a pragmatic approach to simplify Speckle tracking strain echocardiography (SE).
• To reduce the time and improve the reproducibility of SE measurements for routine clinical application.
• To highlight the utility of longitudinal strain as a key metric in LV assessment.

Main Methods:

• Developed a simplified method for strain calculation in SE.
• Focused on longitudinal strain measurements for enhanced sensitivity and reproducibility.
• Utilized a bullseye presentation for peak systolic strain visualization.
• Calculations were streamlined to take 2-4 minutes with >80% yield.

Main Results:

• The pragmatic SE approach significantly reduces calculation time.
• Reproducibility of SE measurements is comparable to ejection fraction.
• Longitudinal strain emerged as the most sensitive and reproducible metric.
• The method achieved a high success rate (>80%) across all patients.

Conclusions:

• A simplified, pragmatic approach to SE enhances its efficiency and reproducibility.
• Longitudinal strain is the recommended metric for routine LV assessment via SE.
• This practical method facilitates the integration of SE into standard echocardiographic examinations.
• Despite limitations, SE offers valuable quantitative insights into LV function.