TAPSE: An old but useful tool in different diseases

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Cardiac Imaging
• Echocardiography

Background:

• Right ventricular (RV) function is vital for overall cardiac health and has prognostic implications in various cardiovascular diseases.
• RV longitudinal contraction contributes significantly (up to 80%) to RV function, more so than transverse shortening.
• Accurate calculation of RV ejection fraction (RVEF) is challenging due to complex RV geometry and difficulty in endocardial delineation, especially with apical trabeculations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the difficulties in accurately assessing RV ejection fraction (RVEF) using current methods.
• To discuss the limitations of the gold standard cardiac MRI for RV assessment due to its resource-intensive nature.
• To introduce alternative parameters developed for evaluating RV systolic function.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on right ventricular function assessment.
• Discussion of challenges in geometric modeling for RVEF calculation.
• Identification of alternative echocardiographic parameters for RV systolic function evaluation.

Main Results:

• Complex RV geometry and prominent trabeculations hinder accurate RVEF calculation.
• Cardiac MRI, while the gold standard, is not widely accessible.
• Several alternative parameters, including TAPSE, S', and speckle tracking longitudinal strain, have been developed to assess RV systolic function.

Conclusions:

• Accurate RVEF assessment remains a significant clinical challenge.
• There is a need for more accessible and reliable methods to evaluate RV systolic function.
• Parameters like TAPSE, S', and speckle tracking offer potential alternatives for RV function assessment.