Strain Imaging: From Physiology to Practical Applications in Daily Practice

Abstract

Non-Doppler, 2-dimensional strain imaging is a new echocardiographic technique for obtaining strain and strain rate measurements, which serves as a major advancement in understanding myocardial deformation. It analyzes motion in ultrasound imaging by tracking speckles in 2 dimensions. There are a lot of data emerging with multiple applications of strain imaging in the clinical practice of echocardiography. As incorporation of strain imaging in daily practice has been challenging, we intend to systematically highlight the top 10 applications of speckle-tracking echocardiography, which every cardiologist should be aware of: chemotherapy cardiotoxicity, left ventricular assessment, cardiac amyloidosis, hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, right ventricular dysfunction, valvular heart diseases (aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation), cardiac sarcoidosis, athlete heart, left atrial assessment, and cardiac dyssynchrony.