Three-Dimensional-Wall Motion Tracking: A New and Faster Tool for Myocardial Strain Assessment: Comparison With Two-Dimensional-Wall Motion Tracking

doi:10.1016/j.echo.2009.01.001

Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography

Volume 22, Issue 4, April 2009, Pages 325-330

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.echo.2009.01.001 Get rights and content

Background

Two-dimensional (2D) wall motion–tracking echocardiography (WMT) is a useful method to measure myocardial strain, but it is very limited because acquisition and analysis are time consuming. Three-dimensional (3D) WMT is a new method that might improve diagnostic usefulness and reduce study times. The aims of this study were to compare results on 2D and 3D WMT and to compare the times for the acquisition and analysis of regional myocardial strain between the two methods.

Methods

Measurements of the radial and longitudinal strain of every left ventricular (LV) segment and the time for acquisition and analysis were obtained using 3D and 2D WMT.

Results

Thirty patients were enrolled (mean age, 57.2 ± 19.6 years; 60% men). Three-dimensional WMT provided complete radial and longitudinal LV strain information, similar to 2D WMT (P = NS), but it was less time consuming: the times for acquisition and analysis were 14.0 ± 1.9 minutes with 2D WMT and 5.1 ± 1.1 minutes with 3D WMT (P < .001). Furthermore, in the same analysis, a greater number of segments could be analyzed using 3D WMT (72.4%) compared with 2D WMT (52.0%).

Conclusions

Three-dimensional WMT provides a faster, more complete, and similar analysis to assess LV longitudinal and radial strain compared with 2D WMT. Thus, 3D WMT is a potential clinical bedside tool for quantifying myocardial strain.

Section snippets

Study Population

This work was designed as a prospective study in which 30 consecutive patients admitted to the Cardiovascular Imaging Unit of San Carlos University Hospital were enrolled in January and February 2008. The only exclusion criterion was the presence of a bad acoustic window or patient unwillingness.

Variables Analyzed

Clinical variables were obtained from each patient's medical file. Variables recorded were age, sex, history of smoking (previous or current), hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and prior

Results

Thirty consecutive patients were enrolled in January and February 2008. The mean age of the studied population was 57.2 ± 19.6 years, and 18 patients (60%) were men. Clinical and standard echocardiographic characteristics are depicted in Table 1. Only 2 patients were excluded because of bad acoustic windows. The mean heart rate was 74.5 ± 11.3 beats/min, the mean systolic blood pressure was 126.3 ± 15.2 mm Hg, and the mean diastolic blood pressure was 79.3 ± 7.3 mm Hg.

Table 2 shows the main

Discussion

The present study is the first to assess 3D WMT in clinical practice, compared with 2D WMT. This novel technique was recently developed as a new tool to assess LV function.⁹ Three-dimensional WMT has reduced some of the shortcomings of previous techniques by reducing the intraobserver and interobserver variability inherent in M-mode and 2D measures and avoiding the angle dependence of strain and strain-rate measures obtained on Doppler tissue imaging. The new 3D wall motion–tracking system

Conclusions

This study shows that 3D WMT is a new technique that can assess LV longitudinal and radial strain, similar to 2D WMT, but in a faster and more complete way. The results suggest that further research should be performed to assess 3D WMT as a potential clinical bedside tool for quantifying myocardial strain.

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Citation Excerpt :
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Clinical InvestigationVentricular FunctionThree-Dimensional-Wall Motion Tracking: A New and Faster Tool for Myocardial Strain Assessment: Comparison With Two-Dimensional-Wall Motion Tracking

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Section snippets

Study Population

Variables Analyzed

Results

Discussion

Conclusions

J Am Soc Echocardiogr

J Am Coll Cardiol

J Am Soc Echocardiogr

J Am Coll Cardiol

J Am Coll Cardiol

J Am Coll Cardiol

J Am Soc Echocardiogr

Cardiol Clin

Rev Esp Cardiol

Am J Cardiol

Clinical Investigation
Ventricular Function
Three-Dimensional-Wall Motion Tracking: A New and Faster Tool for Myocardial Strain Assessment: Comparison With Two-Dimensional-Wall Motion Tracking