title: The use of transthoracic echocardiography for the assessment of left ventricular systolic and diastolic function in patients with suspected or ascertained chronic heart failure.
abstract: Several indices are available to assess left ventricular (LV) function. Although ejection fraction (EF) is widely used, it has many limitations. An assessment of LV longitudinal function should be therefore provided as it precedes the impairment of EF. In this context, speckle tracking derived global longitudinal strain is the gold standard but S' velocity of mitral annulus (by pulsed tissue Doppler) and mitral annular plane systolic excursion (by M-mode) represent more than simple surrogates. LV diastolic assessment should be oriented not to the simple classification of transmitral patterns (E/A ratio and E velocity deceleration time) but to non-invasive estimation of LV filling pressures. This can be mainly obtained from E/e' ratio, with additional calculation of other measurements such as pulmonary flow atrial reverse velocity, systolic pulmonary arterial pressure and left atrial volume index. This comprehensive assessment could also be useful to differentiate heart failure with reduced and preserved EF in particular.
authors.affiliation: a Laboratory of Standard and Advanced Echocardiography , Federico II University Hospital , Naples , Italy.|b Laboratory of Standard and Advanced Echocardiography, Department of Translational Medical Sciences , Federico II University Hospital , Naples , Italy.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Esposito
authors.affiliation: a Laboratory of Standard and Advanced Echocardiography , Federico II University Hospital , Naples , Italy.|c Laboratory of Standard and Advanced Echocardiography, Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences , Federico II University Hospital , Naples , Italy.
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sorrentino
authors.affiliation: a Laboratory of Standard and Advanced Echocardiography , Federico II University Hospital , Naples , Italy.|c Laboratory of Standard and Advanced Echocardiography, Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences , Federico II University Hospital , Naples , Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galderisi
mesh_terms: D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D018619:Echocardiography, Doppler, Pulsed / Q000379:methods*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000503:physiopathology; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology
keywords: diastole; echocardiography; ejection fraction; global longitudinal strain; heart failure; left ventricular filling pressure; tissue Doppler