Global Longitudinal Strain: A practical Step-by-Step Approach to Longitudinal Strain Imaging

Global longitudinal strain imaging of the left ventricle is a simple bedside modality for objectively assessing the global and regional function of the major pumping chamber of the heart, the left ventricle. Currently available echo machines provide good quality speckle-tracking methods with good computational facilities providing standard, comparable bull's eye maps and parametric plots. This introductory chapter provides a step-by-step approach for the beginner to utilize this additional facility in day-to-day practice to precisely understand the left ventricular regional and global function for serial follow-up and prognostication. Pattern recognition is illustrated in the following article. Essentially, this article illustrates what the pictures mean and how to generate these meaningful echo pictures.