Is tissue Doppler echocardiography the Holy Grail for the intensivist?
Assessment of left ventricular diastolic function in the critically ill patient remains a difficult issue in clinical practice. Combined use of routine transmitral and pulmonary venous Doppler patterns in conjunction with tissue Doppler imaging have been claimed to allow bedside diagnosis of diastolic dysfunction. Although in the previous issue of Critical Care it was clearly demonstrated there might be a difference in load dependency of the early myocardial tissue Doppler velocity between lateral and septal placed sample volume, there remain still several unanswered questions, particularly with respect to the preload dependency of these indices.
Poelaert
Jan
J
University Hospital Ghent, Department of Intensive Care Medicine and Cardiac Anaesthesia, 5 K12 IE, De Pintelaan 185, B-9000 Gent, Belgium. jan.poelaert@ugent.be
Roosens
Carl
C
D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods*; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D006801:Humans; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*