Natural Shear Wave Imaging in the Human Heart: Normal Values, Feasibility, and Reproducibility.

Left ventricular myocardial stiffness could offer superior quantification of cardiac systolic and diastolic function when compared to the current diagnostic tools. Shear wave elastography in combination with acoustic radiation force has been widely proposed to noninvasively assess tissue stiffness. Interestingly, shear waves can also result from intrinsic cardiac mechanical events (e.