Introduction to speckle tracking in cardiac ultrasound imaging

Abstract

In this chapter, we will first recall some basic principles of speckle tracking. The fundamentals of speckle tracking in a wider context are essentially described in Chapter 13. We will then treat speckle-tracking echocardiography and echocardiographic particle image velocimetry (echo-PIV) and indicate a number of clinical applications in the context of evaluation of cardiac function. We will then briefly introduce color Doppler approaches complementary to speckle tracking. We will finally present how speckle-tracking techniques could benefit from highframe-rate echocardiography (also called ''ultrafast echocardiography''). We will conclude with the expected contribution of high-frame-rate ultrasound for speckle tracking in three-dimensional (3-D) echocardiography.