Atria: A comprehensive evaluation with echocardiography

Abstract

Left and right atria have gained interest from scientific community. Two or three- dimensional echocardiographic methods have been implemented for better understanding of atrial functions in both healthy persons and patients with various diseases. Atrial volume could be calculated from 2D or 3D images. Volumetric data and derived parameters could be used for determining atrial phasic functions. Nowadays, atrial deformation imaging with 2D-TDI, 2D-speckle tracking imaging or with recently introduced 3D speckle tracking is possible. All those methods have some advantages and disadvantages, which define their clinical value in the future