[New echocardiographic techniques in the study of coronary artery disease: strain and strain rate].

Strain/strain rate are a new echocardiographic technique able to quantify regional myocardial deformation. Since myocardial velocity, obtained by standard tissue Doppler, is affected by global heart motion, cardiac rotation and influence from velocities in other segments, strain/strain rate have been introduced to measure regional shortening fraction and shortening rate, respectively. The present review discusses the most recent developments in the application of strain/strain rate in coronary artery disease.