Quantification of left ventricular mechanics using vector-velocity imaging, a novel feature tracking algorithm, applied to echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: Tagged magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the non-invasive golden standard to measure myocardial deformity. Tissue Doppler Imaging can be used to assess myocardial deformity, however, it has the limitation of angle-dependence. Our study aimed to compare left ventricular torsion and strains measured by velocity-vector imaging (VVI) using echocardiography (echo-VVI) and MRI (MRI-VVI), and to validate them against harmonic phase tagged MRI (HARP MRI).

Real-time myocardial contrast echocardiography can predict functional recovery and left ventricular remodeling after revascularization in patients with ischemic heart disease.

Background: Previous studies showed that preservation of microvascular integrity after myocardial ischemia was associated with myocardial viability. Real-time myocardial contrast echocardiography (RT-MCE) is a promising modality for non-invasive evaluation of microcirculation perfusion. Thus, it provides a unique tool to detect myocardial viability.

Assessment of left ventricular systolic synchronicity by real-time three-dimensional echocardiography in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Background: Recent advances in real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) offer the potential to assess the left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony simultaneously by analyzing the 17 segments time-volume curves. The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility and accuracy of RT3DE for quantitative evaluation of left ventricular systolic synchronicity.

Methods: Twenty-four patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and twenty-five healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study.