Abstract Background: Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) measured by echocardiography is a widely used parameter in clinical practice for the assessment of ventricular function. More recently, global longitudinal strain (GLS) has emerged as a complementary method, as has the assessment of LVEF by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). However, regional evidence evaluating the concordance among these three techniques remains limited. Objectives: To assess the concordance between echocardiographic and CMR measurements in patients treated at a cardiovascular clinic in the city of […]

Abstract Echocardiographic assessment of diastolic function and left ventricular (LV) filling pressures is fundamental to the evaluation of dyspnea and the management of heart failure. However, conventional algorithms have limitations in several special clinical settings in which rhythm disturbances, valvular heart disease, pulmonary hypertension (PH), or structural cardiac abnormalities interfere with the interpretation of Doppler parameters. This article presents a practical approach to assessing diastolic function in conditions such as atrial fibrillation (AF), PH, mitral valve disease, mitral annular calcification, […]

Abstract Echocardiography is the most used diagnostic method for measuring left ventricular systolic function indices. It is possible to estimate, in a quick, available, and non-invasive way, parameters such as ventricular volumes, stroke volume, and ejection fraction. Being an expert in the technique is quite important to estimate these parameters accurately. Being able to refine the technique constantly is also important, and this is closely associated with the examiner’s experience and knowledge of the current software solutions. In this review […]

Introduction The echocardiogram plays a central role in assessments of patients with heart failure (HF), contributing to its classification, etiology definition, severity stratification, hemodynamic assessment, and clinical follow-up. HF has been historically divided according to the echocardiographic parameter left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). The most recent classification divided it into preserved (≥50%), reduced (≤40%), and slightly reduced LVEF (41–49%)., Different societies have recently proposed a universal definition of HF that involves the presence of symptoms and signs caused by structural […]

Abstract Introduction: Chagas disease, an infection caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is an important health problem worldwide that causes cardiac dilation, arrhythmias, and death. Heart failure is a complex syndrome with high morbidity and mortality rates that progresses with similar complications. The New York Heart Association functional classification is used to categorize heart failure severity and stratify heart disease risks and therapies. A reduced left ventricular ejection fraction measured by echocardiography is directly related to a poor prognosis. Objective: […]

Abstract Background Left ventricular ejection fraction is one of the most used echocardiographic parameters in clinical practice. Its estimation by two-dimensional manual method (Simpson method) has limited reproducibility and accuracy, and semi-automatic methods have been proposed. It becomes necessary to compare the semi-automatic two-dimensional method with more accurate methods of assessing left ventricular ejection fraction, such as measurement by automatic three-dimensional echocardiography. Objective To compare the left ventricular ejection fraction, and left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes estimates by the […]

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