Feasibility of strain and strain rate imaging for the assessment of regional left atrial deformation: A study in normal subjects

Aims: There are no data on the use of Myocardial Velocity Imaging (MVI) to study the Left atrium (LA) wall deformation. The aims of this study were to assess the feasibility of measuring regional longitudinal strain/strain rate ( epsilon/SR) profiles in the LA wall, to define the normal values and to validate these measurements. Methods and results: MVI data were recorded in 40 healthy young individuals using a GE Vivid7 for the lateral, anterior and inferior LA walls. The peak epsilon/SR values and total E values during the contractile, reservoir and conduit LA phases were measured. For the LA lateral wall, the total E values were correlated with the LA volumetric indicators (LA active emptying fraction: LA AEF; LA expansion index: LA El; and LA passive emptying fraction: LA PEF). The correlations were significant for all three periods: contractile (total epsilon vs. LA AEF, r= -0.78, P< 0.001), reservoir (total E vs. LA EI, r= 0.43, P< 0.01) and conduit (total E vs. LA PEF, r= -0.46, P<0.005). Conclusion: SR/epsilon imaging for the quantification of Longitudinal myocardial LA deformation was shown to be feasible and the normal values were reported and validated. These data may improve the understanding of the LA pathophysiology. (C) 2005 The European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.