In patients with acute HF, GLS has greater prognostic value than LVEF. Therefore, the authors suggest that GLS should be considered as the standard measurement in all patients with HF. This new concept needs validation in further studies.

Measurement of speckle tracking strain during DSE is feasible and similar in accuracy to TVI-strain in the anterior, but not in the posterior circulation.

No abstract

NAFLD was associated with early alterations of cardiovascular system, independent of established cardiovascular risk factors and MetS.

In this study, the rate of post-treatment thromboembolism was not significantly different among the treatment groups; however, operative treatment tended towards less post-treatment thromboembolism than other treatment groups.

High native T1 value on noncontrast T1 mapping CMR is a novel, independent predictor of adverse outcome in patients with significant AS.

GLS appears to be a better predictor of cardiac events all-cause death than conventional parameters. Measuring preoperative GLS is helpful to predict post-operative outcome and determine optimal timing for surgery in patients with severe primary MR.

BackgroundMeasurement of the cardiac chamber is essential, and current guidelines recommend measuring and reporting values for both sides of the cardiac chamber during echocardiographic evaluation. Normal echocardiographic reference values have been suggested previously, but detailed information about right-sided chambers and values according to gender was not included.MethodsThis is a prospective multicenter (23 centers) study evaluating normal Korean adult subjects using comprehensive echocardiography. We included normal adult subjects (age; 20-79 years old) who had no significant cardiac disorders or illnesses, such as hypertension or diabetes, which could affect cardiac structure and function. We measured the cardiac chamber including both right and left ventricles as well as atria according to current echocardiography guidelines and compared values according to gender and age groups.ResultsA total of 1003 subjects were evaluated and the mean age was 48 ± 16 years. Left ventricular (LV) dimensions increased, but LV volume decreased in older subjects. Right ventricular (RV) area decreased in women and older subjects, and the RV long-axis dimension showed a similar trend. Left atrial (LA) volume increased in men but there were no differences in LA volume index between men and women. The dimension of great arteries increased in men and older subjects.ConclusionSince there were considerable differences between men and women and in the different age groups, and the trends differed significantly between different echo variables, normal echocardiographic cutoff values should be differentially applied based on age and gender.