Echocardiographic quantification of myocardial function using tissue deformation imaging, a guide to image acquisition and analysis using tissue Doppler and speckle tracking.

Recent developments in the field of echocardiography have allowed the cardiologist to objectively quantify regional and global myocardial function. Regional deformation (strain) and deformation rate (strain-rate) can be calculated non-invasively in both the left and right ventricle, providing information on regional (dys-)function in a variety of clinical settings. Although this promising novel technique is increasingly applied in clinical and preclinical research, knowledge about the principles, limitations and technical issues of this technique is mandatory for reliable results and for implementation both in the clinical as well as the scientific field.

Reversible 18-FDG-uptake defects on myocardial PET: Is this myocardial resurrection?

Because it can accurately detect preserved glucose metabolism even in the hypoperfused or stunned myocardium, 18-FDG-PET is considered as the gold standard of myocardial viability assessment. In tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy, a presumed condition of stunning, absence of glucose metabolism however is not a marker of death. This sheds a critical light on 18-FDG-PET as a gold standard for viability.