Left atrial strain in cardiovascular diseases: an overview of clinical applications

Thanks to the increasing evidence on the importance of left atrial (LA) function over LA dimensions to evaluate cardiovascular disease, and to the publication of multicenter data for reference values and to the recent European association of cardiovascular imaging (EACVI)/American society of echocardiography (ASE) consensus document for its standardization (1–3), LA strain by speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) is gaining visibility for the application in daily clinical practice. This parameter allows to analyze LA myocardial deformation and to recognize also concealed myocardial damage