Aktueller Stellenwert der parametrischen Echokardiographie beim Management von Kardiomyopathien

The assessment of myocardial velocities by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and deformation imaging by speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) has been proposed for objective quantitative assessment of myocardial function and sophisticated analysis of cardiac mechanics in a wide range of clinical and scientific applications. These techniques are a promising new diagnostic tool for the evaluation of global and regional cardiac function in cardiomyopathies as well as detection of fibrosis, scars and ischemia. These new techniques are of increasing clinical importance but their strengths and weaknesses must be taken into account for the interpretation of the acquired data. This document describes the principles of the assessment of myocardial velocities and deformation by TDI and STE of the echocardiographic work-up in cardiomyopathies. Moreover, the growing body of evidence as well as relevant information for the clinical application of these emerging techniques for the analysis of systolic and diastolic function as well as the differentiation of restrictive cardiomyopathy from constrictive cardiomyopathy and of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy from athlete??s heart are highlighted in this article.