State-of-the-Art Paper
Ultrafast Cardiac Ultrasound Imaging: Technical Principles, Applications, and Clinical Benefits

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmg.2014.06.004Get rights and content
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Abstract

Several recent technical advances in cardiac ultrasound allow data to be acquired at a very high frame rate. Retrospective gating, plane/diverging wave imaging, and multiline transmit imaging all improve the temporal resolution of the conventional ultrasound system. The main drawback of such high frame rate data acquisition is that it typically has reduced image quality. However, for given clinical applications, the acquisition of temporally-resolved data might outweigh the reduction in image quality. It is the aim of this paper to provide an overview of the technical principles behind these new ultrasound imaging modalities, to review the current evidence of their potential clinical added value, and to forecast how they might influence daily clinical practice.

Key Words

cardiovascular imaging
deformation
diverging wave imaging
high frame rate imaging
plane wave imaging
tissue Doppler imaging
ultrafast cardiac imaging

Abbreviations and Acronyms

2D
2-dimensional
ECG
electrocardiogram
MLA
multiline acquisition
MLT
multiline transmit
SNR
signal-to-noise ratio

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This work was made possible through funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013/ERC Grant Agreement number 281748) and the senior fellowship grant of the University of Leuven Research Council (KU Leuven-BOF). Dr. D'hooge has collaborative research projects with GE, Philips, and Epsilon Imaging. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose. The first two authors contributed equally to this work.

Copyright © 2014 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.