Intracardiac Flow Visualization Using High-Frame Rate Blood Speckle
Tracking Echocardiography: Illustrations from infants with Congenital
Heart Disease
Abstract
We report applications of novel high-frame rate blood speckle tracking
(BST) echocardiography in a series of infants with congenital heart
disease (CHD). BST echocardiography was highly feasible, reproducible,
and fast. High-frame rate BST provided complimentary information to
conventional color-Doppler data enhancing the visualization and
understanding of anomalous blood trajectories (e.g., shunt direction,
regurgitant volumes, and stenotic jets) and vortex formation. High-frame
rate BST echocardiography is a new, promising imaging tool that may be
helpful for deeper understanding of complex CHD physiology.