Abstract
Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, its symptoms and signs are not specific or can be absent. In this context, transthoracic echocardiography plays a key role in diagnosing the various forms of HF, guiding therapeutic decision making and monitoring response to therapy. Over the last few decades, new ultrasound modalities have been introduced in the field of echocardiography, aiming at better understanding the morpho-functional abnormalities occurring in cardiovascular diseases. However, they are still struggling to enter daily and routine use. In our review article, we turn the spotlight on some of the newest ultrasound technologies; in particular, analysis of myocardial deformation by speckle tracking echocardiography, and intracardiac flow dynamics by color Doppler flow mapping, highlighting their promising applications to HF diagnosis and management. We also focus on the importance of these imaging modalities in the selection of responses to cardiac resynchronization therapy.
Highlights
Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome characterized by dyspnea, fatigue, and limitation of physical activity, due to reduced cardiac output and/or elevated ventricular filling pressures at rest or during stress
Since symptoms and signs are non-specific for HF or can be absent, echocardiography plays an essential role in supporting HF diagnosis
Over the last few decades, several ultrasound modalities have been introduced in the field of echocardiography, aiming at better understanding the morpho-functional abnormalities occurring in cardiovascular diseases
Summary
Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome characterized by dyspnea, fatigue, and limitation of physical activity, due to reduced cardiac output and/or elevated ventricular filling pressures at rest or during stress. It has a prevalence of about 1–2% in the adult population of developed countries, reaching ≥10% among people >70 years of age [1]. Over the last few decades, several ultrasound modalities have been introduced in the field of echocardiography, aiming at better understanding the morpho-functional abnormalities occurring in cardiovascular diseases These new modalities are still struggling to enter the clinical practice. Radial thickening and LV rotational motion are permitted by the contribution of both subendocardial and subepicardial fibers
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