If Life Was a Movie: Reflections from a Year as ASE President
Neil J. Weissman, MD, FASE “Imagine a movie that includes every day for the rest of your life…” What would that movie show? What parts are you most proud of?…
Real-Time Contrast Ultrasound Muscle Perfusion Imaging with Intermediate-Power Imaging Coupled with Acoustically Durable Microbubbles
Background There is growing interest in limb contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEU) perfusion imaging for the evaluation of peripheral artery disease. Because of low resting microvascular blood flow in skeletal muscle, signal…
Echocardiographic Predictors of Progression to Persistent or Permanent Atrial Fibrillation in Patients with Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation (E6P Study)
Backgrounds Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) frequently, but not always, progresses to persistent/permanent AF. The aim of this study was to evaluate the echocardiographic predictors of AF progression in patients with…
Association of Left Ventricular Strain with 30-Day Mortality and Readmission in Patients with Heart Failure
Background Heart failure (HF) readmissions are a common and serious problem of heterogeneous etiology. Left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction has not been found to be a consistent risk marker. However,…
Altered Left Ventricular Twist Is Associated with Clinical Severity in Adults and Adolescents with Homozygous Sickle Cell Anemia
Background Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is associated with cardiac abnormalities and premature death. The aims of this study were to identify early markers of cardiac dysfunction through ventricular strain and…
Incremental Prognostic Value of Echocardiographic Strain and Its Association With Mortality in Cancer Patients
Background Left ventricular global longitudinal systolic strain (GLS) has been shown to be superior to ejection fraction in detecting subclinical dysfunction in patients with cancer and predicting mortality in patients…
Evaluation of Left Ventricular Function by Three-Dimensional Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography in Patients with Myocardial Bridging of the Left Anterior Descending Coronary Artery
Background To understand the influence of myocardial bridging (MB) on left ventricular (LV) function, myocardial function was studied in patients with MB of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD)…
Myocardial Damage Detected by Two-Dimensional Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography in Patients with Extracardiac Sarcoidosis: Comparison with Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Background The aim of this study was to determine whether two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography can identify the myocardial damage detected by delayed enhancement (DE) magnetic resonance imaging via the differences in…
Intervendor Variability of Two-Dimensional Strain Using Vendor-Specific and Vendor-Independent Software
Background Although two-dimensional (2D) strain is widely used to assess left ventricular mechanics, the strain values derived from vendor-specific 2D speckle-tracking software are different even for the same subjects and…
Improvement in Strain Concordance between Two Major Vendors after the Strain Standardization Initiative
Background Disagreement of strain measurements among different vendors has provided an obstacle to the clinical use of strain. A joint standardization task force between professional societies and industry was initiated…
