Ultrafast cardiac ultrasound imaging: technical principles, applications, and clinical benefits

Several recent technical advances in cardiac ultrasound allow data to be acquired at a very high frame rate. Retrospective gating, plane/diverging wave imaging, and multiline transmit imaging all improve the temporal resolution of the conventional ultrasound system. The main drawback of such high frame rate data acquisition is that it typically has reduced image quality. However, for given clinical applications, the acquisition of temporally-resolved data might outweigh the reduction in image quality. It is the aim of this paper to provide an overview of the technical principles behind these new ultrasound imaging modalities, to review the current evidence of their potential clinical added value, and to forecast how they might influence daily clinical practice.