Myocardial strain review and its potential use for prediction of clinical outcome in patients with heart trauma

The left ventricular systolic function is significant in defining the management of cardiac conditions. Lately measurement of myocardial strain is studied as a tool which characterizes left ventricularfunction better and carries prognostic utility. This paper aims at reviewing the myocardial strain concept and how it might be useful in evaluating the patient with polytrauma cardiac injury.The myocardial muscle undergoes specific rotation in different compartments during different stages of contraction-relaxation. Generally, the apex and the base of the heart move in opposite directions. There are different parameters which can be measured to describe and quantify heart function such as stroke volume, ejectionfraction, cardiac outputandstrain. Several studies report the normal value of myocardial strain to be around-20.The movement of myocardial tissue during the heat cycle allows measurement of myocardial strain, which is an index of deformation. The change in value of strain correlates with different cardiac conditions.The strain can be measured using different diagnostic tools, each of which has its unique utilities. The myocardial strain value is dependent on multiple factors such as age, sex, location. Moreover, researchers often claim integrability to be a major barrier to introduction of strain measurements to protocols. However, there are measures taken to standardize the procedure. Patients who have polytrauma with cardiac involvement have a range of structural changes, which makes possible the measurement of strain. It has a potential to predict future long-term complications.Keywords: myocardial strain,myocardial deformation,echocardiography, cardiovascular magnetic resonance.