The significance of two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography of the left atrium in patients with atrial fibrillation.

This article is a review of the literature devoted to the analysis of promising directions for the use of left atrial strain evaluated using speckle-tracking echocardiography to predict atrial fibrillation (AF). Left atrial strain parameters in various phases of the cardiac cycle are independent predictors of AF both in patients with heart failure and in the general population. The addition of left atrial strain parameters to the traditional echocardiographic parameters will make it possible to effectively select patients with AF both for catheter ablation and to identify patients with a high risk of AF recurrence after catheter ablation.