Normal range and usefulness of right ventricular systolic strain to detect subtle right ventricular systolic abnormalities in patients with heart failure: a multicentre study.

Aims: The aim of the present multicentre study was to analyse a large cohort of healthy subjects and patients with a common condition such as heart failure (HF) with the purpose of determining the normal range and the usefulness of right ventricular (RV) systolic strain to detect subtle RV systolic abnormalities using 2D speckle-tracking echocardiography.

Methods And Results: We analysed 238 healthy subjects and a cohort of 642 patients characterized by asymptomatic patients (n = 216) and patients with HF with preserved (HFpEF) and reduced (HFrEF) ejection fraction (n = 218 and n = 208, respectively) prospectively included in 10 centres. The normal range of RV systolic strain analysing the healthy subjects was as follows: RV global strain -24.

Clinical Relevance of Left Atrial Strain to Predict Recurrence of Atrial Fibrillation after Catheter Ablation: A Meta-Analysis.

Background: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to analyze the clinical relevance of left atrial (LA) strain to predict recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) after catheter ablation (CA).

Methods And Results: We searched in different databases (Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane) prospective studies that analyzed LA strain before CA. Eight studies (2 with only paroxysmal AF and 6 with mixed population of paroxysmal and persistent AF) were included in the final analysis (total patient number = 686).