Echocardiographic evaluation of left ventricular wall motion using still-frame parametric imaging

We tested the feasibility of improved evaluation of left ventricular (LV) wall motion using still-frame-parametric images of local video intensity oscillations. In 8 anesthetized pigs, baseline parametric images showed bright hands in the area spanned by endocardial motion, which gradually decreased in brightness and thickness in the territory of the occluded coronary artery. In 30 patients with contrast-enhanced echocardiograms, "gold standard" for wall motion was determined from independent interpretations of dynamic images made by three experienced reviewers. Dynamic images were independently classified by 3 inexperienced and 3 intermediate experience level readers. Interpretation was then repeated in combination with parametric images. Compared with the "gold standard", evaluation of wall motion correlated with the readers' experience and was significantly improved by adding parametric images.