Authors' reply

摘要

We thank the authors for their interest in our article [1] and for the issues they addressed in their letter [2]. Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) is a new technique which uses standard B mode images for speckle tracking analysis that may allow an accurate assessment of segmental myocardial deformation by following the acoustic backscatter frame by frame. In contrast to tissue Dopp-ler imaging (TDI)-derived parameters, STE is an angle-independent technique. Moreover, the lack of angle dependency is of great advantage because the movement of myocardium can be followed in any direction. STE has given us new insights into the ventricular function, and this technique is widely used to quantitatively assess regional myocardial function. In most clinical and experimental research STE was used to measure both left and right ventric- ular function [3-5]. As recently mentioned, however, some studies have shown that STE is a reliable and feasible tool to evaluate regional atrial function [6, 7].