Reproducibility of Speckle-Tracking-Based Strain Measures of Left Ventricular Function in a Community-Based Study

Abstract

Background The reproducibility of echocardiographic measurements of myocardial strain, performed in a community-based setting, has not been reported previously. Methods We examined the reproducibility of left ventricular (LV) strain measurements in two samples of 20 participants each from the Offspring cohort of the Framingham Heart Study (mean age 63±9 years, 59% women). Two-dimensional speckle tracking-based measurements of global peak LV strain in systole were performed in the apical 4-chamber, apical 2-chamber, and mid-ventricular parasternal short-axis views. Results Inter-observer intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were ≥0.84 for all global strain measurements, with average coefficients of variation (CV) of ≤4% for global longitudinal and circumferential strain, and <8% for global transverse and radial strain. For LV strain measurements performed in each of the 3 views, intra-observer ICCs were ≥0.91 among time points spanning a total 8-month period. The average CVs were <6% for global longitudinal and circumferential strain, and <9% for global transverse and radial strain. Inter- and intra-observer reproducibility findings were similar in analyses adjusting for frame rate. Conclusions We observed excellent reproducibility of global longitudinal and circumferential strain measurements and very good reproducibility of global transverse and radial strain measurements. Taken together, our findings demonstrate the reproducibility of performing echocardiographic strain measurements in a large, epidemiologic community-based setting.

Patterns of Left Ventricular Longitudinal Strain and Strain Rate in Olympic Athletes

“…Our results are therefore similar to those of Cheng et al, 37 who found very good accuracy in terms of GLS in a large community-based epidemiologic study. These results further support the potential relevance of the strain and strain rate analysis in the routine echocardiographic evaluation.…”

Relations Between Aortic Stiffness and Left Ventricular Mechanical Function in the Community

“…Offspring Study participants who attended their eighth examination (2005–2008) and Omni Study participants who attended their third examination (2007–2008) underwent a standardized medical history and examination (N=3319), and underwent routine echocardiography (N=3185) with digital image acquisition using a Hewlett‐Packard 5500 machine (Philips Healthcare, Andover, MA). A total of 3086 individuals had echocardiographic images deemed appropriate for speckle‐tracking analyses based on the following criteria: ≤1 segment of dropout for any of the predefined views (apical 2‐chamber, apical 4‐chamber, or parasternal short‐axis at the level of the midventricle) and absence of arrhythmia during image capture 24. From this sample, we excluded individuals in hierarchical, non‐exclusive fashion for the following reasons: prior history of cardiovascular disease (N=252), prevalent atrial fibrillation (N=124), valvular heart disease (N=63), missing covariate data (N=12), and missing carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity (CFPWV, N=140), resulting in a final sample of 2495 participants eligible for the present investigation.…”

Expert Consensus for Multimodality Imaging Evaluation of Adult Patients during and after Cancer Therapy: A Report from the American Society of Echocardiography and the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging

“…We refer the reader to Table 5, which summarizes the findings of the JUSTICE study, providing mean values for GLS according to vendor, gender, and age. Cheng et al 168 recently evaluated the reproducibility of 2D STE in the Offspring Cohort of the Framingham Heart Study. The interobserver intraclass correlation coefficient was ≥0.84 for all global strain measurements, with an average coefficient of variation for GLS of ≤4%.…”