ASE—Global Health and Our Foundation
Patricia A. Pellikka, MD, FASE As many of you know, ASE’s second medical mission camp in India wrapped up right before the holidays, and our volunteers returned home tired and…
Right Isovolumic Contraction Velocity Predicts Survival in Pulmonary Hypertension
Background Right ventricular function is a strong determinant of prognosis in severe pulmonary hypertension. Methods The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of estimates of right…
Longitudinal Strain Impairment as a Marker of the Progression of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction in a Rat Model
Background Recent advances in very high frame rate use of ultrasonography have enabled the application of two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) to small animal cardiac functional assessments. In this study, two-dimensional…
Incremental Value of Inefficient Deformation Indices for Predicting Response to Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy
Background Previous studies have identified four clinical characteristics associated with a favorable response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT): female gender, left bundle branch block (LBBB), QRS duration ≥ 150 msec,…
Prognostic Value of Coronary and Microvascular Flow Reserve in Patients with Nonischemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy
Background Coronary and microvascular blood flow reserve have been established as important predictors of prognosis in patients with cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to assess the value…
Coronary Autoregulation Is Abnormal in Syndrome X: Insights Using Myocardial Contrast Echocardiography
Background Syndrome X in women is thought to be caused by coronary microvascular dysfunction, the exact site of which is unknown. The aim of this study was to characterize the…
Two-Dimensional Atrial Systolic Strain Imaging Predicts Atrial Fibrillation at 4-Year Follow-Up in Asymptomatic Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis
Background The aim of this study was to assess systolic left atrial (LA) reservoir function in patients with mitral stenosis (MS) using two-dimensional (2D) strain (ϵ) and strain rate imaging…
Depressed Myocardial Blood Flow Reserve in Nonischemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy: Findings and Explanations
All meanings, we know, depend on the key of interpretation. —George Elliott In this issue of JASE , Lima et al. report that reduced myocardial blood flow (MBF) velocity reserve and…
Impact of Transapical Aortic Valve Replacement on Apical Wall Motion
Background Recent reports indicate that the transapical approach for transcatheter aortic valve replacement may be associated with elevated cardiac enzymes, poor recovery of left ventricular function, and poor outcomes. The…
Geometric Errors of the Pulsed-Wave Doppler Flow Method in Quantifying Degenerative Mitral Valve Regurgitation: A Three-Dimensional Echocardiography Study
Background The aim of this study was to estimate geometric errors made by the two-dimensional (2D) transthoracic echocardiographic (TTE) pulsed-wave Doppler flow (PWDF) method in calculating regurgitant volume (RVol) and…
