Improving strain-derived estimates of regional cardiac performance by accounting for myocardial anisotropy

The goal of this work is to explore the possibility that strain-derived estimates of cardiac performance can be enhanced by including the consequences of myocardial anisotropy. Promising results based on strain-derived measurements have been reported from a number of echocardiographic laboratories. Approaches employed thus far have assumed that the heart is an isotropic medium. We suggest that explicitly accounting for the anisotropic material properties of the heart may contribute to improved diagnosis.