Assessment of left ventricular systolic function using color-coded tissue Doppler echocardiography

Tissue Doppler echocardiography can be used to measure myocardial velocity data by using the Doppler shift data of ultrasound waves. Two methods have recently been described to calculate velocity data: pulsed tissue Doppler and color-coded tissue Doppler. This article focuses on color-coded tissue Doppler data to evaluate left ventricular systolic function. Technical considerations and validation studies are reviewed. Potential clinical applications of color-coded tissue Doppler are presented, including dobutamine stress echocardiography, assessment of left ventricular ejection dynamics using mitral annular velocity, and tissue Doppler assessment of cardiac transplant rejection.