New capabilities in assessing the left ventricular contractility by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography

This work reviews the reasons why the characteristics of left ventricular (LV) contractility, in particular, and 2D speckle echocardiography-based peak rates of global longitudinal strain (GLS), are not widely used in clinical practice. Authors present the analysis of new indicators proposed for the assessment ofLVcontractile function based on longitudinal strain taking into account the involvement of individual segments. The authors show that the assessment of myocardial work indicators characterizing the relationships between contractile and pump functions is a promising approach for the study ofLVcontractile function. The analysis of postsystolic strain index (PSI) is presented to illustrate its clinical implementation in the studies of viable myocardium in ischemic conditions and evaluating the effectiveness of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).