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Speckle Tracking MasterClass

Introduction

Speckle Tracking Echocardiography (STE) is a rapidly growing field in echocardiography allowing us to study the “deformation” of the myocardium. Initially used as a research tool, many laboratories now include STE within their routine imaging protocols.  Clearly, STE has changed the way we determine myocardial function and will certainly impact clinical decision making even more in the future.

Let Dr. Thomas Binder and leading experts from around the world bring you through the most practical and comprehensive STE course available today. This course is designed to close the gap between what science has taught us about Speckle Tracking Echocardiography and what the clinician needs to know in order to apply this method in daily clinical practice.
 

How to use this course

 

How to use this course

We realize that learning can be a burden—

But effective learning is about building a habit and committing to your goals, and why we created an STE course that keeps you effortlessly engaged across hours of instructional videos.  And unlike those other courses locked away in classrooms, ours can be accessed anywhere, anytime. 

Learning as Easy as Counting—

1. Clear some time in your busy schedule.

2. Log into your dashboard.

3. Begin immediately! All you have to do is Press Play.

Simply follow the 3 steps above 2x per week for ~25 minutes. It's that easy. We look forward to being your mentors to master STE!

 

Speckle Tracking Advanced is an in depth video course on Speckle Tracking Echocardiography which builds on what was learned in the Compendium. In contrast to the compendium, this course features even more case examples, demonstrations and expert statements from top experts in the field. Here we include advanced topics such as:

  • How to perform an advanced Speckle Tracking study.
  • A more detailed look at Myocardial Mechanics.
  • A comprehensive analysis of which factors influence strain.
  • The problem of vendor differences.
  • The possible uses of both radial and circumferential strain and the role that strain rate plays.
  • A guide to what information is hidden in the strain curves.
  • Clinical scenarios where STE can make a difference.
  • The assessment of right heart function and the left atrium using Speckle Tracking.



 

Cases

Chapters

Compendium

2:45:33 Chapter 1

Speckle Tracking Compendium is a systematic video tutorial covering the essentials of Speckle Tracking Echocardiography (Deformation Imaging) and how it can be used to study left heart function. The course provides an:

  • Introduction explaining the relevance of Speckle Tracking Echocardiography.
  • Critical view of ejection fraction that demonstrates the need for other techniques to quantify left ventricular function.
  • Explanation of what “deformation” is and how Speckle Tracking is able to measure “strain”.
  • Demonstration of how to record images and perform a basic Speckle Tracking analysis (bullseye display).
  • Overview of the most important clinical applications of Speckle Tracking, what we know from the literature, and how it can be used in clinical decision making.
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Myocardial Mechanics - Advanced

20:37 Chapter 2

An important chapter that will set the stage for a better understanding of strain and its role in cardiovascular disease. Here you will learn how the heart muscle contracts, which parameters of cardiac function we can describe and which components of strain we can discern.

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Methodology and Normal Findings

30:13 Chapter 3

This chapter will provide you with in depth knowledge on what deformation is and which parameters can be measured. You will learn how Speckle Tracking works, which advantages it has to tissue Doppler and if values can be compared among different vendors. Finally, we will answer the question: Can we currently define normal values?

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Instrumentation - Different vendors

55:33 Chapter 4

How should a strain analysis be performed? Which buttons do I press? Which information can be obtained? We show you how to get the most out of a Speckle Tracking analysis on four different platforms (Canon/Toshiba, GE EchoPac, Siemens SC2000 and TomTec).

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Thick Myocardium

81:39 Chapter 5

Here you will dig deeper into the field of longitudinal strain in patients with increased wall thickness. You will learn how this tool can help in the differential diagnosis of different causes of "thick walls" such as hypertrophic CMP, hypertensive heart disease, amyloid heart disease and athletes heart. We will also discuss the prognostic value that Speckle Tracking echocardiography can provide and illustrate this through many cases.

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Dilated Cardiomyopathy - Advanced

35:04 Chapter 6

Speckle Tracking can have a large impact on the management of patients with dilated CMP. This chapters demonstrates why it is of value, how it can help to assess left ventricular function and which prognostic information it provides. Again, we show many case examples that will help you better understand how STE can be used in various settings including patients with HFpEF.

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Cardio-Oncology

66:41 Chapter 7

With improvements in the survival of cancer, chemotherapy induced cardiotoxicity is a growing problem. In this chapter, you will discover the magnitude of this problem, which risk factors we can identify and what the mechanisms of cardiotoxicity are. You will also learn how STE should be implemented into your workflow to detect cardiotoxicity at an early stage.

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Dyssynchrony - Advanced

38:49 Chapter 8

Speckle Tracking allows you to look at the timing of regional contraction. Therefore, STE can be used to study dyssynchrony in potential CRT candidates. This chapter will provide an overview on dyssynchrony and how the Speckle Tracking curves can help you to detect, and even quantify, the magnitude of dyssynchrony. Within specific cases we will provide many practical tips.

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Coronary Artery Disease

58:16 Chapter 9

With STE it is possible to look at regional contraction in the setting of coronary artery disease. In this chapter we will discuss how acute coronary syndromes and chronic coronary artery disease influence longitudinal strain, what post-systolic thickening is and why it is important in coronary artery disease. Case examples will highlight the different patterns of regional longitudinal strain depending on the affected coronary territory and which prognositic information longitudonal strain can provide.

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Stress Echo

20:03 Chapter 10

If strain is able to detect ischemia, why not apply it during stress echocardiography? This chapter discusses the potential role and limitation of Speckle Tracking to detect coronary artery disease during stress echocardiography.

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Aortic Stenosis

30:44 Chapter 11

Left ventricular function plays an important role in the management of patients with aortic stenosis, and Speckle Tracking is able to provide valuable information on top of ejection fraction. This chapter will explain why and show how this technique can be used to monitor patients and assess the prognosis.

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Aortic Regurgitation

28:09 Chapter 12

Aortic regurgitation can cause left ventricular dysfunction. With Speckle Tracking, we can detect deterioration of left ventricular function at an early stage. How can this be helpful in aortic regurgitaion? What are the current guidelines for the management of patients with AR? Keynote lectures and cases studies will provide you these answers.

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Mitral Regurgitation

51:23 Chapter 13

Optimal timing of surgery in mitral regurgitation is critical for long term survival. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the current guidelines and show how Speckle Tracking can provide important additional information, both in structural and functional mitral regurgitation. Several case examples will help you better understand in which scenarios strain is helpful.

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Right Ventricular Strain

69:15 Chapter 14

Longitudinal deformation can also be measured in the right ventricle. This chapter will show you how such an analysis is performed, how strain compares to traditional parameters of right ventricular function, what the normal values are and in which clinical scenarios this information is of value. Numerous case examples will put this theoretical knowledge into a practical context.

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Left Atrial Strain

33:26 Chapter 15

The measurement of left atrial strain is a promising new way to study the function of the left atrium. It is easy to apply and could provide valuable information especially in patients with atrial fibrillation and diastolicdysfunction. In this chapter, we will discuss the physiology of the left atrium, technical aspects of the method, and what the prognostic significance is of a reduction in left atrial strain.

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Future of STE

22:57 Chapter 16

This chapter discusses the current limitations of the method and highlights the newest developments in ultrasound. Find out how Speckle Tracking can be used to directly image blood flow and and how high frame rate imaging could dramatically change the way we use Speckle Tracking in the future.

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