Validation of novel biomarkers to assess cardiac diastolic function extracted using a high frame rate speckle tracking algorithm

Accurate assessment of diastolic function is essential not only for diagnostic purposes, but also for estimates on prognosis. Several studies have shown the correlation of novel diastolic biomarkers, i.e., Strain Rate (SR) during isovolumic relaxation (SR IVR ) and early filling (SR e ), with the invasive gold standard assessment of left ventricular (LV) diastolic function, thus indicating their additive value for an improved patient classification. The incorporation of these biomarkers in clinical practice, however, has proven problematic due to the technical limitations of the current methods used for deformation imaging: tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and speckle tracking echocardiography (STE). This study aimed to overcome these limitations by using a STE algorithm on high frame rate (HFR) acquisitions. SR IVR and SRe values were estimated from 37 subjects with all three abovementioned techniques. HFR STE values correlated better with the TDI reference measurements, while the clinical STE values systematically underestimated them. These results show that HFR STE can assess novel biomarkers of diastolic function accurately, in a user-friendly manner.