Figure 4

The curves show the circumferential strain (CS) at midwall level as a function of cardiac cycle phase under rest and stress (10 μg/min/kg) obtained with tagged images. The observed strain increase under stress in tag measurement is consistent with the increase of wall thickening measured in cine images between rest and stress. No difference in the systolic and diastolic strain (dCS/dt) rate was induced by the dobutamine.