Articles

Prognostic value of new left atrial volume index severity partition cutoffs after cardiac rehabilitation program in patients undergoing cardiac surgery

Previous studies showed that left atrial enlargement is an independent marker of adverse outcomes in both primary and secondary cardiovascular prevention. However, no data are available on long-term outcomes i...

Authors: Davide Lazzeroni, Nicola Gaibazzi, Matteo Bini, Giacomo Bussolati, Umberto Camaiora, Roberto Cassi, Simone Geroldi, Pietro Tito Ugolotti, Lorenzo Brambilla, Valerio Brambilla, Paolo Castiglioni and Paolo Coruzzi

Evaluation of left atrial function in patients with iron-deficiency anemia by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography

Iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) is a global health problem and a common medical condition that can be seen in everyday clinical practice. And two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D-STE) has been re...

Authors: Jiaqi Shen, Qiao Zhou, Yue Liu, Runlan Luo, Bijun Tan and Guangsen Li

The efficacy of sonographic measurement of inferior vena cava diameter as an estimate of central venous pressure

Central venous pressure (CVP) and right atrial pressure (RAP) are important parameters in the complete hemodynamic assessment of a patient. Sonographic measurement of the inferior vena cava (IVC) diameter is a...

Authors: William Ciozda, Ilan Kedan, Devin W. Kehl, Raymond Zimmer, Raj Khandwalla and Asher Kimchi

Three-dimensional dynamic morphology of the mitral valve in different forms of mitral valve prolapse – potential implications for annuloplasty ring selection

Real-time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography has increased our understanding of the distinct pathomechanisms underlying functional, ischaemic or degenerative mitral regurgitation. However, pote...

Authors: Astrid Apor, Anikó Ilona Nagy, Attila Kovács, Aristomenis Manouras, Péter Andrássy and Béla Merkely

Impact of a structured referral algorithm on the ability to monitor adherence to appropriate use criteria for transthoracic echocardiography

Many free-form-text referral requisitions for transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) provide insufficient information to adequately evaluate their adherence to Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC). We developed a stru...

Authors: Steven Promislow, Joseph G. Abunassar, Behnam Banihashemi, Benjamin J. Chow, Girish Dwivedi, Kasra Maftoon and Ian G. Burwash

Echocardiographic diagnosis of the different phenotypes of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an inherited cardiovascular disorder of great genetic heterogeneity and has a prevalence of 0.1 – 0.2 % in the general population. Several hundred mutations in more than 27...

Authors: Vito Maurizio Parato, Valeria Antoncecchi, Fabiola Sozzi, Stefania Marazia, Annapaola Zito, Maria Maiello and Pasquale Palmiero

In-hospital measurement of left ventricular ejection fraction and one-year outcomes in acute coronary syndromes: results from the IMMEDIATE Trial

In patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is a known marker for increased mortality. However, the relationship between LVEF measured during index ACS hos...

Authors: Jayanta T. Mukherjee, Joni R. Beshansky, Robin Ruthazer, Hadeel Alkofide, Madhab Ray, David Kent, Warren J. Manning, Gordon S. Huggins and Harry P. Selker;

Modified transesophageal echocardiography of the dissected thoracic aorta; a novel diagnostic approach

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a key diagnostic modality in patients with acute aortic dissection, yet its sensitivity is limited by a “blind-spot” caused by air in the trachea. After placement of a...

Authors: Wouter W. Jansen Klomp, Linda M. Peelen, George J. Brandon Bravo Bruinsma, Arnoud W. J. van’t Hof, Jan G. Grandjean and Arno P. Nierich

Deformation pattern and predictive value of right ventricular longitudinal strain in children with pulmonary arterial hypertension

Right ventricular function has been identified as an important prognostic factor in children with pulmonary arterial hypertension. The aim of the study was to assess the deformation pattern and prognostic valu...

Authors: Iolanda Muntean, Theodora Benedek, Mihaela Melinte, Carmen Suteu and Rodica Togãnel

Erratum to: ‘Acceleration rate of mitral inflow E wave: a novel transmitral doppler index for assessing diastolic function’

Authors: Roya Sattarzadeh, Anahita Tavoosi, Mostafa Jabbari, Amir Farhang Zand Parsa, Babak Geraiely, Mohammad Saadat, Farnoosh Larti, Ali Pasha Meysamie and Mehrdad Salehi

Right ventricular dysfunction as predictor of longer hospital stay in patients with acute decompensated heart failure: a prospective study in Indonesian population

Hospital length of stay (LOS) is a key determinant of heart failure hospitalization costs. Longer LOS is associated with lower quality of care measures and higher rates of readmission and mortality. Right vent...

Authors: Paskariatne Probo Dewi Yamin, Sunu Budhi Raharjo, Vebiona Kartini Prima Putri and Nani Hersunarti

Acceleration rate of mitral inflow E wave: a novel transmitral doppler index for assessing diastolic function

We performed comprehensive transmitral and pulmonary venous Doppler echocardiographic studies to devise a novel index of diastolic function. This is the first study to assess the utility of the acceleration ra...

Authors: Roya Sattarzadeh, Anahita Tavoosi, Mostafa Jabbari, Amir Farhang Zand Parsa, Babak Geraiely, Mohammad Saadat, Farnoosh Larti, Ali Pasha Meysamie and Mehrdad Salehi

Ultrasonographic caval indices do not significantly contribute to predicting fluid responsiveness immediately after coronary artery bypass grafting when compared to passive leg raising

Appropriate fluid management is one of the most important elements of early goal-directed therapy after cardiothoracic surgery. Reliable determination of fluid responsivenss remains the fundamental issue in vo...

Authors: Dorota Sobczyk, Krzysztof Nycz, Pawel Andruszkiewicz, Karol Wierzbicki and Maciej Stapor

Coronary flow velocity reserve by echocardiography: feasibility, reproducibility and agreement with PET in overweight and obese patients with stable and revascularized coronary artery disease

Coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR) measured by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography of the LAD is used to assess microvascular function but validation studies in clinical settings are lacking. We aimed to...

Authors: Rasmus Huan Olsen, Lene Rørholm Pedersen, Martin Snoer, Thomas Emil Christensen, Adam Ali Ghotbi, Philip Hasbak, Andreas Kjaer, Steen B. Haugaard and Eva Prescott

Echocardiographic markers of inducible myocardial ischemia at baseline evaluation preparatory to exercise stress echocardiography

Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI) is a sensible and feasible method to detect longitudinal left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction (LVSD) in patients with diabetes mellitus, hypertension or ischemic heart diseas...

Authors: Antonella Cherubini, Giovanni Cioffi, Carmine Mazzone, Giorgio Faganello, Giulia Barbati, Luigi Tarantini, Giulia Russo, Carlo Stefenelli, Franco Humar, Eliana Grande, Maurizio Fisicaro, Claudio Pandullo and Andrea Di Lenarda

Comprehensive left ventricular mechanics analysis by speckle tracking echocardiography in Chagas disease

Chagas disease (CD) is a frequent cause of dilated cardiomyopathy (CMP) in developing countries, leading to clinical heart failure and worse prognosis. Therefore, the development and evolution of this CMP has ...

Authors: Marcio Silva Miguel Lima, Hector R. Villarraga, Maria Cristina Donadio Abduch, Marta Fernandes Lima, Cecilia Beatriz Bittencourt Viana Cruz, Marcio Sommer Bittencourt, Mariana Callil Voos, Joao Cesar Nunes Sbano, Wilson Mathias Jr and Jeane Mike Tsutsui

Arterial adaptations to training among first time marathoners

Exercise training favorably alters arterial anatomy in trained limbs, though the simultaneous effects on passively trained arteries are unclear. Thus, brachial (non-trained limb), popliteal (trained limb) and ...

Authors: Nicole M. Hafner, Christopher J. Womack, Nicholas D. Luden and Mikel K. Todd

Long-term clinical and echocardiographic outcomes of extensive septal myectomy for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy in Chinese patients

There has been limited data addressing outcomes of extensive septal myectomy in Chinese patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM). In this study, the objective was to evaluate the clinical a...

Authors: Lei Yao, Li Li, Xiong-Jun Lu, Yan-Ling Miao, Xiao-Ning Kang and Fu-Jian Duan

Reproducibility of a novel echocardiographic 3D automated software for the assessment of mitral valve anatomy

3D transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is superior to 2D TEE in quantitative anatomic evaluation of the mitral valve (MV) but it shows limitations regarding automatic quantification. Here, we tested the int...

Authors: Iolanda Aquila, Ariana González, Covadonga Fernández-Golfín, Luis Miguel Rincón, Eduardo Casas, Ana García, Rocio Hinojar, José Julio Jiménez-Nacher and José Luis Zamorano

Early changes in right ventricular longitudinal function in chronic asymptomatic alcoholics revealed by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography

Heart ventricular dysfunction has been characterized as reduced longitudinal function of the right ventricle (RV), and is associated with chronic alcohol abuse. This study investigated the use of two-dimension...

Authors: Sisi Meng, Lijuan Guo and Guangsen Li

Erratum to: ‘Left ventricular twist mechanics and its relation with aortic stiffness in chronic kidney disease patients without overt cardiovascular disease’

Authors: Samir Sulemane, Vasileios F. Panoulas, Klio Konstantinou, Athanasios Bratsas, Julia Grapsa, Frederick W. Tam, Edwina A. Brown and Petros Nihoyannopoulos

Strain-time curve analysis by speckle tracking echocardiography in cardiac resynchronization therapy: Insight into the pathophysiology of responders vs. non-responders

Patients with non-ischemic heart failure etiology and left bundle branch block (LBBB) show better response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). While these patients have the most pronounced left ventric...

Authors: Andrew C. Y. To, Rodolfo D. Benatti, Kimi Sato, Richard A. Grimm, James D. Thomas, Bruce L. Wilkoff, Deborah Agler and Zoran B. Popović

Combination of single quantitative parameters into multiparametric model for ischemia detection is not superior to visual assessment during dobutamine stress echocardiography

To evaluate if the combination of several quantitative parameters into a mathematical model would enhance the detection of myocardial ischemia during dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) when compared to c...

Authors: Jelena Čelutkienė, Greta Burneikaitė, Linas Petkevičius, Laura Balkevičienė and Aleksandras Laucevičius

Evaluation of right ventricular function in fetal hypoplastic left heart syndrome using spatio-temporal image correlation (STIC)

Postnatal outcome of fetuses with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is mainly determined by right ventricular function. In the present study we used spatio-temporal image correlation (STIC) to assess righ...

Authors: Jing Zhang, Qichang Zhou, Yili Zhao, Qinghai Peng, Zheli Gong and Xiangdang Long

Respiratory influence on left atrial volume calculation with 3D-echocardiography

Left atrial volume (LAV) estimation with 3D echocardiography has been shown to be more accurate than 2D volume calculation. However, little is known about the possible effect of respiratory movements on the ac...

Authors: Mathias Sørgaard, Jesper J. Linde, Hafsa Ismail, Niels Risum, Klaus F. Kofoed, Jørgen T. Kühl, Benjamin Tittle, Walter B. Nielsen and Jens D. Hove

Left ventricular twist mechanics and its relation with aortic stiffness in chronic kidney disease patients without overt cardiovascular disease

Recent studies hypothesized left ventricular (LV) twist as a potential biomarker for evaluation of sub clinical myocardial disease, however its relationship with aortic stiffness has yet to be investigated. Ch...

Authors: Samir Sulemane, Vasileios F. Panoulas, Klio Konstantinou, Athanasios Bratsas, Frederick W. Tam, Edwina A. Brown and Petros Nihoyannopoulos

Reviewer acknowledgment 2015

The Editors of Cardiovascular Ultrasound would like to thank all of our reviewers who have contributed to the journal in Volume 13 (2015) and whose valuable support is fundamental to its success.

Authors: Eugenio Picano and Rosa Sicari

Clinical utility of transthoracic echocardiography for screening abdominal aortic aneurysm: a prospective study in a Japanese population

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical utility of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) for screening abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and to identify important TTE indices associated with AAA...

Authors: Yoshihisa Matsumura, Michiko Wada, Daigo Hirakawa, Yuka Yasuoka, Norihito Morimoto, Hiroaki Takeuchi, Hiroaki Kitaoka, Kazumasa Orihashi and Tetsuro Sugiura

Echo-Doppler–derived indexes of ventricular stiffness and ventriculo-arterial interaction as predictors of new-onset atrial fibrillation in patients with heart failure

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in patients with heart failure (HF) and worsens their prognosis. Vulnerability to changes in loading is an important factor in the development of AF and is strongly influence...

Authors: Ji Hyun Yoon, Myung-Hyun Kim, Hyemoon Chung, Eui-Young Choi, Pil-Ki Min, Young Won Yoon, Byoung Kwon Lee, Bum-Kee Hong, Se-Joong Rim, Hyuck Moon Kwon and Jong-Youn Kim

Estimated pulmonary capillary wedge pressure assessed by speckle tracking echocardiography predicts successful ablation in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with left atrial (LA) remodeling caused by pressure and/or volume (LAV) overload. Increased pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) represents LA pressure overload. We ...

Authors: Masanori Kawasaki, Ryuhei Tanaka, Taiji Miyake, Reiko Matsuoka, Mayumi Kaneda, Shingo Minatoguchi, Takeshi Hirose, Koji Ono, Maki Nagaya, Hidemaro Sato, Yoshiaki Kawase, Shinji Tomita, Kunihiko Tsuchiya, Hitoshi Matsuo, Toshiyuki Noda and Shinya Minatoguchi

Status and potential clinical value of a transthoracic evaluation of the coronary arteries

The growing need for coronary evaluation has raised interest in non-radioactive, non-invasive monitoring systems. In particular, radiation exposure during coronary investigations has been shown to be a possibl...

Authors: Fabien Labombarda, Samuela Castelnuovo, Dionysis Goularas and Cesare R. Sirtori

Impact of B-type natriuretic peptide level on the risk of left atrial appendage thrombus in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation: a prospective study

The impact of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) level on the risk of left atrial appendage (LAA) thrombus in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) has not been prospectively studied.

Authors: Rojina Pant, Mita Patel, Enrique Garcia-Sayan, Marwan Wassouf, Oliver D’Silva, Richard F. Kehoe and Rami Doukky

Quantitative evaluation of myocardial fibrosis by cardiac integrated backscatter analysis in Kawasaki disease

Kawasaki disease is an acute, systemic vasculitis that affects the coronary arteries. However, the relationship between myocardial fibrosis and Kawasaki disease has been completely unknown until now. We aimed ...

Authors: Lijian Xie, Renjian Wang, Min Huang, Yongwei Zhang, Jie Shen and Tingting Xiao

The potential clinical value of contrast-enhanced echocardiography beyond current recommendations

Contrast agents are used in resting echocardiography to opacify the left ventricular (LV) cavity and to improve LV endocardial border delineation in patients with suboptimal image quality. If a wider use of co...

Authors: Malin K. Larsson, Cristina Da Silva, Elif Gunyeli, Ali Akebat Bin Ilami, Karolina Szummer, Reidar Winter and Anna Bjällmark

Reliability, repeatability, and reproducibility of pulmonary transit time assessment by contrast enhanced echocardiography

The aim of this study is to investigate the inter and intra-rater reliability, repeatability, and reproducibility of pulmonary transit time (PTT) measurement in patients using contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEU...

Authors: Ingeborg H. F. Herold, Salvatore Saporito, R. Arthur Bouwman, Patrick Houthuizen, Hans C. van Assen, Massimo Mischi and Hendrikus H. M. Korsten

The beneficial effects of TAVI in mitral insufficiency

Previous studies have suggested that concomitant mitral regurgitation (MR) is a risk factor for acute transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) failure, but may improve afterwards. Aim of this study was t...

Authors: Marco Fabio Costantino, Ernesta Dores, Pasquale Innelli, Antonella Matera, Vincenza Santillo, Roberto Violini, Rosario Fiorilli, GianGiuseppe Cappabianca, Nicola Marraudino, Eugenio Picano and Giandomenico Tarsia

Shigeo Satomura: 60 years of Doppler ultrasound in medicine

This year we celebrate 60 years since Shigeo Satomura published the first measurements of the Doppler shift of ultrasonic signals from a beating heart. He demonstrated that Doppler signals can be retrieved fro...

Authors: Ioan M. Coman and Bogdan A. Popescu

The value of core lab stress echocardiography interpretations: observations from the ISCHEMIA Trial

Stress echocardiography (SE) is dependent on subjective interpretations. As a prelude to the International Study of Comparative Health Effectiveness with Medical and Invasive Approaches (ISCHEMIA) Trial, poten...

Authors: Akihisa Kataoka, Marielle Scherrer-Crosbie, Roxy Senior, Gilbert Gosselin, Denis Phaneuf, Gabriela Guzman, Gian Perna, Alfonso Lara, Sasko Kedev, Andrea Mortara, Mohammad El-Hajjar, Leslee J. Shaw, Harmony R. Reynolds and Michael H. Picard

Causes of changes in carotid intima-media thickness: a literature review

Atherosclerosis causes significant morbidity and mortality. Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) predicts future cardiovascular and ischaemic stroke incidence. CIMT, a measure of atherosclerotic disease, can ...

Authors: Baoge Qu and Tao Qu

Reliability of focused cardiac ultrasound by novice sonographer in preoperative anaesthetic assessment: an observational study

Use of preoperative echocardiography may help to identify patients with increased cardiac risk, who may benefit from modification of perioperative plan. The objective of our study was to evaluate the reliabili...

Authors: Pawel Andruszkiewicz, Dorota Sobczyk, Izabela Gorkiewicz-Kot, Ilona Kowalik, Remigiusz Gelo and Orest Stach

Assessment of inpatient multimodal cardiac imaging appropriateness at large academic medical centers

Responding to concerns regarding the growth of cardiac testing, the American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) published Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) for various cardiac imaging modalities. Single moda...

Authors: Andrew Remfry, Howard Abrams, David M. Dudzinski, Rory B. Weiner and R. Sacha Bhatia

Two-dimensional speckle tracking for the assessment of coronary artery disease during dobutamine stress echo: clinical tool or merely research method

Two-dimensional speckle tracking provides valuable information for regional wall motion abnormalities. The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic value of left ventricular longitudinal strain an...

Authors: Constantina Aggeli, Stauroula Lagoudakou, Ioannis Felekos, Vasiliki Panagopoulou, Stellios Kastellanos, Konstantinos Toutouzas, George Roussakis and Dimitris Tousoulis

Brachial artery endothelial function is stable across the morning in young men

The morning hours are associated with increased cardiovascular (CV) risk, and vascular endothelial function (VEF) is a strong predictor of CV disease. A diurnal rhythm in VEF has been established but the morni...

Authors: Saurabh S. Thosar, Chad C. Wiggins, Steven A. Shea and Janet P. Wallace

Prognostic value of calcium score and coronary flow velocity reserve in asymptomatic diabetic patients

The risk stratification of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major objective for the clinicians, and it can be achieved by coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR) or with coronary artery calcium score (C...

Authors: Miodrag Dikic, Milorad Tesic, Zeljko Markovic, Vojislav Giga, Ana Djordjevic-Dikic, Jelena Stepanovic, Branko Beleslin, Ivana Jovanovic, Ana Mladenovic, Jelena Seferovic, Miodrag Ostojic and Aleksandra Arandjelovic

Persistent pulmonary congestion before discharge predicts rehospitalization in heart failure: a lung ultrasound study

B-lines evaluated by lung ultrasound (LUS) are the sonographic sign of pulmonary congestion, a major predictor of morbidity and mortality in patients with heart failure (HF). Our aim was to assess the prognost...

Authors: Luna Gargani, P. S. Pang, F. Frassi, M.H. Miglioranza, F. L. Dini, P. Landi and E. Picano

Automated analysis of color tissue Doppler velocity recordings of the fetal myocardium using a new algorithm

Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) can be used to assess fetal cardiac function and it has been shown to detect changes associated with hypoxia in animal models. However, the analysis is cumbersome and time consumin...

Authors: Lotta Herling, Jonas Johnson, Kjerstin Ferm-Widlund, Peter Lindgren, Ganesh Acharya and Magnus Westgren

Automated quantification of left atrial size using three-beat averaging real-time three dimensional Echocardiography in patients with atrial fibrillation

Left atrial (LA) sizing in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) is crucial for follow-up and outcome. Recently, the automated quantification of LA using the novel three-beat averaging real-time three dimensi...

Authors: Ran Heo, Geu-Ru Hong, Young-Jin Kim, Joel Mancina, In-Jeong Cho, Chi Young Shim, Hyuk-Jae Chang, Jong-Won Ha and Namsik Chung

Normal ranges of left ventricular strain in children: a meta-analysis

The definition of normal values of two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography derived left ventricular (LV) deformation parameters, is of critical importance for the routine application of this modality...

Authors: Haki Jashari, Annika Rydberg, Pranvera Ibrahimi, Gani Bajraktari, Lindita Kryeziu, Fisnik Jashari and Michael Y. Henein

The prognostic value of dobutamine stress echocardiography amongst British Indian Asian and Afro-Caribbean patients: a comparison with European white patients

The incidence of cardiovascular disease is considerably disparate among different racial and ethnic populations. While dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) has been shown to be useful in Caucasian patients...

Authors: Jamie M. O’Driscoll, Claire Rossato, Paula Gargallo-Fernandez, Marco Araco, Dimitrios Giannoglou, Sanjay Sharma and Rajan Sharma

Assessment of dipyridamole stress echocardiography for risk stratification of diabetic patients

Despite advances in medical therapy, cardiovascular disease, mainly coronary artery disease (CAD), remains the leading cause of mortality among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). The objective of the presen...

Authors: Liz Andréa Villela Baroncini, Rafael Borsoi, Maria Eugênia Bégué Vidal, Nathália Julim Valente, Juliana Veloso and Roberto Pecoits Filho