The “Alphabet Soup” of Federal Healthcare Agencies
Benjamin F. Byrd III, MD, FASE The federal government has tremendous influence over the delivery of healthcare in this country. What initially seems a small, insignificant change in federal policy…
Comparison of Echocardiographic Measurements of Left Ventricular Volumes to Full Volume Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Normal and Diseased Rats
Background Clinical two-dimensional (2D) and clinical three-dimensional echocardiography are validated against cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), the gold standard for left ventricular (LV) volume measurement. In rodents, there is no…
Authors’ Reply
We read with interest Dr. Cantinotti’s letter, in which he raises important issues pertaining to the challenges of performing and interpreting pediatric quantitative echocardiography. We agree that many sources of…
Current Pediatric Nomograms Are Only One Source of Error for Quantification in Pediatric Echocardiography: What to Expect from Future Research
I read with interest the article by Mawad et al. titled “A Review and Critique of the Statistical Methods Used to Generate Reference Values in Pediatric Echocardiography,” recently published in JASE…
Application of Speckle-Tracking in the Evaluation of Carotid Artery Function in Subjects with Hypertension and Diabetes
Background Speckle-tracking enables direct tracking of carotid arterial wall motion. Timing intervals determined with carotid speckle-tracking and slopes calculated from carotid artery area versus cardiac cycle curves may provide further…
Myocardial Mechanical Remodeling after Septal Myectomy for Severe Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
Background Septal myectomy for symptomatic patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) is a well-established procedure for symptomatic relief. Myocardial mechanics are abnormal in patients with HOCM, demonstrating low longitudinal strain,…
Admission Wall Motion Score and Quantitative ST-Segment Depression in the Assessment of 30-Day Mortality in Patients with First Non–ST-Segment Elevation Acute Coronary Syndromes
Background Whether admission myocardial wall motion score (WMS) in non–ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes might be a better predictor of 30-day mortality than currently recognized prognostic markers is unknown. Methods…
Mitral Annular Displacement by Doppler Tissue Imaging May Identify Coronary Occlusion and Predict Mortality in Patients with Non–ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction
Background Mitral annular displacement (MAD) is a simple marker of left ventricular (LV) systolic function. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that MAD can distinguish patients…
Three-Dimensional Modeling of the Right Ventricle from Two-Dimensional Transthoracic Echocardiographic Images: Utility of Knowledge-Based Reconstruction in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
Background Right ventricular (RV) volume and functional assessments are essential in the management of pulmonary arterial hypertension but are often difficult to perform. Three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography is limited by acoustic…
Relationship between Longitudinal Strain and Symptomatic Status in Aortic Stenosis
Background Global longitudinal strain (GLS) and basal longitudinal strain (BLS) assessed using two-dimensional speckle-tracking imaging have been proposed as subtle markers of left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction with potential prognostic…
