European heart journal cardiovascular Imaging
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Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Imaging · Jul 2013
ReviewRecommendations for the echocardiographic assessment of native valvular regurgitation: an executive summary from the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging.
Valvular regurgitation represents an important cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Echocardiography has become the primary non-invasive imaging method for the evaluation of valvular regurgitation. ⋯ In clinical practice, the management of patients with valvular regurgitation thus largely integrates the results of echocardiography. It is crucial to provide standards that aim at establishing a baseline list of measurements to be performed when assessing regurgitation.
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Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Imaging · Jul 2013
ReviewThe year 2012 in the European Heart Journal-Cardiovascular Imaging. Part II.
The part II of the best of the European Heart Journal - Cardiovascular Imaging in 2012 specifically focuses on studies of valvular heart diseases, heart failure, cardiomyopathies, and congenital heart diseases.
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Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Imaging · Jul 2013
Comparative StudyComparison of three-dimensional echocardiographic software packages for assessment of left ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony and prediction of response to cardiac resynchronization therapy.
We directly compared TomTec and QLAB software packages for the three-dimensional echocardiographic (3DE) assessment of left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony including their ability to predict response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in patients with ischaemic and non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy. ⋯ Different 3DE software packages for the assessment of mechanical dyssynchrony should not be used interchangeably until better software standardization is achieved. Dyssynchrony assessment with 3DE for the prediction of response to CRT seems particularly useful in patients with non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy.
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Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Imaging · Jul 2013
Comparative StudyHaemodynamic response during low-dose dobutamine infusion in patients with chronic systolic heart failure: comparison of echocardiographic and invasive measurements.
To investigate whether left ventricular (LV) systolic shortening velocity (s'), diastolic lengthening velocity (e'), and non-invasively estimated LV filling pressure (E/e') during low-dose dobutamine echocardiography (LDDE) reflect invasive measures of cardiac output and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) in stable patients with chronic systolic heart failure. ⋯ The LV systolic shortening velocity is closely associated with cardiac output during LDDE in CHF patients. Dobutamine stimulation increases early diastolic mitral inflow and lengthening velocities, but the E/e' ratio does not reflect the PCWP during LDDE, which warrants some caution in converting changes in E/e' into changes in LV filling pressure. The sample size is, however, small and the observation need to be confirmed in a larger population.