title: Feasibility, reproducibility, and agreement between different speckle tracking echocardiographic techniques for the assessment of longitudinal deformation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Left ventricular (LV) longitudinal deformation can be assessed with new echocardiographic techniques like triplane echocardiography (3PE) and four-dimensional echocardiography (4DE). We aimed to assess the feasibility, reproducibility, and agreement between these different speckle-tracking techniques for the assessment of longitudinal deformation.
  
  
  METHODS
  101 consecutive subjects underwent echocardiographic examination. 2D cine loops from the apical views, a triplane view, and an LV 4D full volume were acquired in all subjects. LV longitudinal strain was obtained for each imaging modality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  2DE analysis of LV strain was feasible in 90/101 subjects, 3PE strain in 89/101, and 4DE strain in 90/101. The mean value of 2DE and 3PE longitudinal strains was significantly higher with respect to 4DE. The relationship between 2DE and 3PE derived strains (r = 0.782) was significantly higher (z = 3.72, P < 0.001) than that between 2DE and 4DE (r = 0.429) and that between 3PE and 4DE (r = 0.510; z = 3.09, P = 0.001). The mean bias between 2DE and 4DE strains was -6.61 ± 7.31% while -6.42 ± 6.81% between 3PE and 4DE strains; the bias between 2DE and 3PE strain was of 0.21 ± 4.16%. Intraobserver and interobserver variabilities were acceptable among the techniques.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Echocardiographic techniques for the assessment of longitudinal deformation are not interchangeable, and further studies are needed to assess specific reference values.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Pediatric Sciences, University of Catania, Via Plebiscito 628, 95124 Catania, Italy.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buccheri
authors.forename: Ines
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Monte
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mangiafico
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bottari
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Leggio
authors.forename: Corrado
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tamburino
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult