Shunt quantification in congenital heart disease based on two-dimensional speckle tracking

In this work we investigated how high frame rate speckle tracking based on plane wave imaging could be used to improve the quantification of peak velocities in shunt flows due to septal defects. Simulated jet flow was used to optimize acquisition and tracking parameters. In vivo, a packet based acquisition scheme was used where focused B-mode scans were interleaved high frame rate flow images (100 fps). Results showed that speckle tracking provides calibrated velocities in the shunt flow throughout the cardiac cycle, and improved estimates of peak velocities used for diagnosing shunt severity were acquired.