Value of left atrial strain: a highly promising field of investigation
Résumé
The principal role of the left atrium (LA) is to modulate left ventricular filling and cardiovascular performance by functioning as (i) a reservoir for pulmonary venous return during ventricular systole, (ii) a conduit for pulmonary venous return during early ventricular diastole, and (iii) a booster pump that augments ventricular filling during late ventricular diastole. The interplay between these atrial functions and ventricular performance throughout the cardiac cycle is crucial in many pathophysiological conditions.1,2 However, in clinical practice, we do not really assess all of the components of LA function. In fact, quantification of LA function remains challenging. Calculating ejection fraction or atrial ejection force has occasionally been proposed as methods for quantifying LA function, but they are neither routinely used nor recommended in the literature.3 Standard recommendations in the literature propose using LA volume calculated from trans-thoracic 2D echocardiography orthogonal views.3,4 LA size correlates with both LA and left ventricular (LV) function and is a strong predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and death.5 The antero-posterior diameter, calculated with M-mode or 2D echocardiography, is no longer considered to adequately represent the true LA size. For these reasons, the ASE/EACVI joined paper3 …