The function of left ventricular (LV) contractility consists of two aspects, the force of myocardial contraction, which provides a sufficient pressure gradient to open the heart valves, and deformation, which determines the actual cardiac output [1, 2]. The relationship between the characteristics of LV deformation and LV volume parameters remains poorly understood. The LV work may reflect the dependence between the volume and deformation characteristics of the left ventricle. Myocardial work indexes can more accurately describe the systolic LV function when the LV ejection fraction (EF) and global longitudinal strain (GLS) are not informative enough [3, 4]. A new approach was proposed for evaluating the LV pumping function, and a parameter was developed to characterize the efficiency of myocardial work for the cardiac cycle period from the aortic valve opening (AVO) to its closure (AVC), that is, the phase of blood ejection from the left ventricle.
Keywords: myocardial work; pumping function of the left ventricle; speckle tracking echocardiography.