Myocardial Strain Imaging

Echocardiogram: What is Myocardial Strain Imaging and how can it help?

"Myocardial" means relating to the muscular tissue of the heart. Strain Imaging is a method for measuring deformation of the myocardium (muscular heart tissue).

Myocardial strain imaging evaluates the function of the heart muscle using cardiac ultrasound. This non-invasive method is used to identify subtle changes in heart function. This noninvasive diagnostic test allows doctors to take pictures of your heart and see its chambers as they move and pump blood.

Strain imaging echocardiography offers a readily available and portable imaging tool that not only offers an ultrasound of the function of the heart muscle; but also allows for early detection of heart failure.

Why is an Echocardiogram with Myocardial Strain Imaging performed?

The test may be used to:

• Screen and follow patients who receive cardio-toxic medications during cancer treatment
• Evaluate patients who have received radiation to the chest
• Evaluate and monitor patients with cardiomyopathy, heart failure, a pacemaker implant, or pericardial disease

Myocardial Strain Imaging using Speckle Tracking.

Speckle tracking echocardiography is an imaging technique that analyzes the motion of tissues in the heart by using the naturally occurring speckle pattern in the myocardium (muscular heart tissue) or blood when imaged by ultrasound. It assesses deformation directly in the myocardium and helps identify subtle changes not evident by other imaging methods.

Speckle tracking echocardiography is a more recently used technique, which can be applied to conventional two-dimensional or three-dimensional images.