The Impact of Foreshortening on Regional Strain - A Comparison of Regional Strain Evaluation Between Speckle Tracking and Tissue Velocity Imaging

Abstract

To our knowledge this is the first study focusing on methodological aspects - especially standardization - using speckle tracking and TVI. Due to the lower accuracy of strain calculation based on TVI in basal regions, foreshortening has no significant impact on quantitative parameters of TVI-derived strain values in normal contracting hearts. Using speckle tracking, however, foreshortening induces significant differences of basal septal strain in normal contracting hearts. In the presence of regional wall motion defects, a lack of standardization of the views will cause inhomogeneous patterns of regional strain depending on the scan planes through the center of the infarction or its penumbra. Thus, non-standardization will have a significant impact on deformation parameters in 2D echocardiography.