Focus Issue: Cardiac Imaging
Clinical Research: Left Ventricular Function: State-of-the-Art Paper
Assessment of Left Ventricular Function by Cardiac Ultrasound

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Our understanding of the physical underpinnings of the assessment of cardiac function is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Recent developments in cardiac ultrasound permit exploitation of many of these newer physical concepts with current echocardiographic machines. This review will first focus on the current approach to the assessment of cardiovascular hemodynamics by cardiac ultrasound. The next focus will be the assessment of global cardiac mechanics in systole and diastole. Finally, relationships between the cardiac structure and regional myocardial function, and the way regional function can be quantified by ultrasound, will be presented. This review also discusses the clinical impact of echocardiography and its future directions and developments.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

DTI
Doppler tissue imaging
EF
ejection fraction
LV
left ventricle/ventricular
LVOT
left ventricular outflow tract
PW
pulsed wave
ROA
regurgitant orifice area
RV
regurgitant volume
STI
speckle tracking imaging
SV
stroke volume
2(3)D
2(3)-dimensional

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Supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (grant AG17479-02), the National Space Biomedical Research Institute through NASA NCC 9-58 (Houston, Texas), the Department of Defense (Ft. Dietrick, Maryland, USAMRMC grant No. 02360007), the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Research Resources, General Clinical Research Center (grant MO1 RR-018390), and by a National American Heart Association grant (0235172 N).