title: Speckle-tracking echocardiography: a new technique for assessing myocardial function.
abstract: Speckle-tracking echocardiography has recently emerged as a quantitative ultrasound technique for accurately evaluating myocardial function by analyzing the motion of speckles identified on routine 2-dimensional sonograms. It provides non-Doppler, angle-independent, and objective quantification of myocardial deformation and left ventricular systolic and diastolic dynamics. By tracking the displacement of the speckles during the cardiac cycle, strain and the strain rate can be rapidly measured offline after adequate image acquisition. Data regarding the feasibility, accuracy, and clinical applications of speckle-tracking echocardiography are rapidly accumulating. This review describes the fundamental concepts of speckle-tracking echocardiography, illustrates how to obtain strain measurements using this technique, and discusses their recognized and developing clinical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of Sienna, Siena, Italy. cameli@unisi.it
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mondillo
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galderisi
authors.forename: Donato
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mele
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cameli
authors.forename: Vincenzo Schiano
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Lomoriello
authors.forename: Valerio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zacà
authors.forename: Piercarlo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ballo
authors.forename: Antonello
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Andrea
authors.forename: Denisa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Muraru
authors.forename: Mariangela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Losi
authors.forename: Eustachio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Agricola
authors.forename: Arcangelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Errico
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buralli
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sciomer
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nistri
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Badano
mesh_terms: D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans