Tissue Doppler, speckling tracking and four-dimensional echocardiographic assessment of right ventricular function in children with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Background: Right ventricular (RV) function is frequently overlooked during dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) evaluation.

Aim: To evaluate RV function in children with idiopathic DCM using relatively recent echocardiographic modalities.

Methods: We prospectively studied the cardiac function in 50 children with idiopathic DCM and 50 healthy children as a control group, using four-dimensional echocardiography (4-DE), Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI), and two-dimensional-speckles tracking echocardiography (2-D-STE).