Left and Right Atrial Strain in Healthy Caucasian Children by Two-Dimensional Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography

Strain (ε) analysis has been applied for the analysis of ventricular function1 and more recently for atrial function.2-9 Left atrial (LA) ε has been proposed as a valuable marker in heart failure,2 while the utility of right atrial (RA) ε has been reported in patients with pulmonary hypertension.5 Studies of LA and RA ε in children with congenital or acquired heart disease are limited.9,10 As with any other echocardiographic measure, the introduction of atrial ε analysis into routine clinical practice would require the availability of normal values.11 A recent review and meta-analysis of LA ε nomograms is available for adults,4 but it did not include data for children.