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Figure 2 | Cardiovascular Ultrasound

Figure 2

From: Flow propagation velocity is not a simple index of diastolic function in early filling. A comparative study of early diastolic strain rate and strain rate propagation, flow and flow propagation in normal and reduced diastolic function

Figure 2

Strain in two dimensions. As heart muscle is incompressible, systolic shortening has to be balanced by simultaneous wall thickening, and diastolic stretching by thinning, as shown in the upper panel. As the wall gets thinner by diastolic stretching, the transverse diameter of the left ventricle increases. As the wall stretching (and hence thinning) propagates from the base to the apex, the early filling phase can be illustrated as a sequence as shown in the lower panel. The slope of the thin line across illustrates the strain rate propagation.

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Cardiovascular Ultrasound

ISSN: 1476-7120

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