Fig. 2

Strain tracings from an apical 4 chamber view of a patient with acute heart failure at: a baseline and b 23-h follow-up. Each yellow arrowhead points to the peak longitudinal strain for one of the 6 segments of the left ventricular wall visualized in this view. The values adjacent to each arrowhead represent the time-to-peak longitudinal strain for the corresponding segment. Mechanical dispersion index (MDI) is calculated by calculating the standard deviation for the time-to-peak longitudinal strain values. After 23 h of treatment, the MDI has improved (decreased) by approximately 35% in this patient who had a favorable post-discharge outcome