Diagnostics

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Marius Keller

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Guest Editor

Echocardiographic Imaging Lab, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Eberhard Karls University, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany
Interests: three-dimensional echocardiography; right ventricular function; hemodynamic management

Dr. Fabian aus dem Siepen

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Guest Editor

Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Pneumology/Amyloidosis Center, University Hospital Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Interests: cardiac amyloidosis; cardiovascular imaging; intensive care medicine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Echocardiography is a paramount tool to detect cardiac pathologies. As a rapidly available and non-invasive diagnostic tool, it helps emergency physisicans, cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, anesthesiologists and intensive care medics to provide optimal patient care in various clinical settings. Current international guidelines recommend echocardiography not only for initial patient assessment but also for follow-up examinations of cardiac diseases, guidance during modern catheter-based interventions and acute hemodynamic management. The aim of this Special Issue is to collect research articles (original articles, reviews and meta-analyses) covering state-of-the-art technologies and novel aspects regarding echocardiographic imaging. The intention is to facillitate an understanding of scientific innovations as well as clinical implementation to its readers, namely researchers, physicians and students. While articles should emphasize the role of echocardiography in the diagnosis of cardiac disease, they may cover a wide range of employed techniques, e.g., three-dimensional echocardiography, speckle-tracking, articficial inteligence, head-to-head comparisons to other imaging modalities (such as cardiac magnetic resonance or computed tomography imaging) or hemodynamic measurements, atrial function assessment, intracardiac ultrasound, contrast echocardiography, and (interventional) transesophageal echocardiography.

Submissions are highly appreciated by the Guest Editors, and we wish to thank you in advance for your efforts in conducting articles of high scientific quality.

Dr. Marius Keller
Dr. Fabian Aus dem Siepen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

echocardiography
cardiac disease
cardiomyopathiy
coronary artery disease
valvular heart disease
left ventricular function
right ventricular function
strain imaging
speckle-tracking
interventional TEE

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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9 pages, 1889 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Trajectory of Diastolic Function after Heart Transplantation as Assessed by Left Atrial Deformation Analysis

by Borbála Edvi, Alexandra Assabiny, Tímea Teszák, Máté Tolvaj, Alexandra Fábián, István Hartyánszky, Miklós Pólos, Bálint Károly Lakatos, Hajnalka Vágó, Balázs Sax, Béla Merkely and Attila Kovács

Diagnostics 2024, 14(11), 1136; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics14111136 - 29 May 2024

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Abstract

Diastolic dysfunction (DD) is a prevalent and clinically significant complication after heart transplantation (HTX). We aimed to characterize the diastolic function of HTX recipients with both short-term and long-term follow-ups by applying left atrial (LA) deformation analysis. We consecutively enrolled and followed up with 33 HTX patients. Three assessments were performed one month, 3–5 months, and 3–5 years after surgery. Beyond conventional echocardiographic measurements, apical four-chamber views optimized for speckle tracking analysis were acquired and post-processed by dedicated software solutions (TomTec AutoStrain LA and LV). Left atrial phasic functions were characterized by reservoir, conduit, and contraction strains. We categorized diastolic function according to current guidelines (normal diastolic function, indeterminate, DD). At the first assessment, nine (27%) patients were in the DD category, and eleven (33%) were indeterminate. At the second assessment, only one patient (3%) remained in the DD category and six (18%) were indeterminate. At the third assessment, 100% of patients were categorized as having normal diastolic function. LA reservoir strain gradually increased over time. LA contraction strain significantly improved from the second to the third assessment. We found a correlation between the LA reservoir strain and NT-proBNP (r = 0.40, p < 0.05). DD is prevalent immediately after HTX but rare until the end of the first postoperative quarter. Speckle tracking analysis enables the characterization of LA phasic functions that may reflect both short- and long-term changes in diastolic function and correlate with NT-proBNP. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Echocardiography in the Diagnosis of Cardiac Disease)

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Other

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5 pages, 8689 KiB

Open AccessInteresting Images

Case of Prenatal Diagnosis of a Fetal Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformation at Term

by Kristina Tchatcheva and Rumen Marinov

Diagnostics 2024, 14(9), 876; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics14090876 - 24 Apr 2024

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Abstract

In our case, the malformation was diagnosed prenatally at 40 weeks of gestation, and at the age of 14 days, the malformation was removed combined with a segmentectomy of the sixth segment of the left lung. Preoperative diagnostics focus on 3D-CT reconstruction and detailing of the anatomical variations of all arterial and venous vessels, as evident from our case. Treatment includes surgical removal or a minimally invasive interventional approach through the embolization of the vessel afferent to the malformation. After the operation, the child was discharged on the 30th day after birth in good condition and is developing normally. Early operative intervention is of great importance for the favorable outcome of the condition. In our case, this was hypoxemia with a saturation of 70-75%. The rare and often missed prenatal diagnosis of fetal AV malformation is significant for the adequate postnatal treatment and development of affected children. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Echocardiography in the Diagnosis of Cardiac Disease)

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