Department of Cardiology, Teine Keijinkai Hospital, 1-jo, 12-chome, Maeda, Teine-ku, Sapporo, 006-8555, Japan.
J Echocardiogr. 2021 Sep;19(3):129-140. doi: 10.1007/s12574-021-00519-8. Epub 2021 Mar 9.
Two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D-STE) enables assessment of left atrial (LA) function with better reproducibility and less load dependence than those with conventional methods. Data regarding LA functions determined by 2D-STE in patients with various cardiovascular diseases have recently been accumulating. LA strain has emerged as a novel parameter with the potential of improving the diagnostic accuracy of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and the prognostic value in patients with heart failure and stroke. Furthermore, LA dysfunction determined by 2D STE can provide incremental prognostic information to conventional echocardiographic parameters in patients with cardiovascular diseases. Hence, 2D-STE appears to be a promising technique for diagnosis and therapeutic decision-making. Data regarding LA functions determined by three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (3D-STE) have also been accumulating. Here, I review recent studies, especially those published after 2016, on clinical applications of LA function assessed by 2D-STE and 3D-STE and summarize the remaining problems to be solved for improving the clinical utility of these techniques.
二维斑点追踪超声心动图（2D-STE）能够评估左心房（LA）功能，其重复性优于传统方法，且对负荷的依赖性更小。最近，关于各种心血管疾病患者通过 2D-STE 确定的 LA 功能的数据不断增加。LA 应变已成为一种新的参数，有可能提高左心室舒张功能障碍的诊断准确性，并提高心力衰竭和中风患者的预后价值。此外，通过 2D STE 确定的 LA 功能障碍可为心血管疾病患者的常规超声心动图参数提供额外的预后信息。因此，2D-STE 似乎是一种有前途的诊断和治疗决策技术。关于通过三维斑点追踪超声心动图（3D-STE）确定的 LA 功能的数据也在不断增加。在这里，我回顾了最近的研究，特别是 2016 年以后发表的关于通过 2D-STE 和 3D-STE 评估 LA 功能的临床应用的研究，并总结了为提高这些技术的临床实用性而需要解决的剩余问题。
