[Are new myocardial tracking systems of three-dimensional strain a reality in daily clinical practice?].

Echocardiography is the most commonly used diagnostic method for assessing left ventricular (LV) function in clinical cardiology. However, echocardiographic measurements are subjective, semiquantitative, and relatively insensitive when detecting subtle abnormalities in contractility. Furthermore, early detection of either global or regional LV dysfunction may be crucial to patient care by influencing therapy and establishing prognosis. Accordingly, a great deal of effort has been concentrated in developing echocardiographic technology to objectively and reliably quantify LV function. The most widely used and validated technique for quantitative assessment of regional LV function has been tissue Doppler imaging. However, tissue Doppler is limited by Doppler angle of incidence. An exciting recent advance has been 3-dimensional (3D) myocardial tracking technology, using 3D speckle tracking strain. This article will review the emerging work on 3D myocardial tracking, its strength, technical limitation, and potential for clinical applications now and for the future.