Two-dimensional strain and atrial function: a study on patients after percutaneous closure of atrial septal defect

To assess the value of two-dimensional (2D) strain in assessing regional myocardial function along the atrial wall. We studied 20 patients late after successful percutaneous atrial septal defect (ASD) closure. The analysis was performed for atrial longitudinal peak systolic strain on the interatrial septum, in correspondence of the device, and on the lateral wall of the left atrium. The speckle tracking indexes demonstrated almost the absence of any deformation on the Amplatzer ASD occluder, a bulky non-contractile element, passively moved by global heart motion. This study in a simple clinical model demonstrates that 2D strain is not influenced by global heart motion and tethering from adjacent segments and can also be used to study the regional atrial function. Moreover, both acquisition and post-processing times of 2D strain were very short, and the reproducibility was very good. All these above-mentioned characteristics make the 2D strain a tool fully compatible with the clinical scanning, able to provide additional clinical information.