Direct measurement of cardiac stiffness using echocardiographic shearwave imaging during open‐chest surgery: A pilot study in human

Purpose Cardiac stiffness is a marker of diastolic function with a strong prognostic significance in many heart diseases that is not measurable in clinical practice. This study investigates whether elastometry, a surrogate for organ stiffness, is measurable in the heart using ShearWave Imaging. Methods In 33 anesthetized patients scheduled for cardiac surgery, ShearWave imaging was acquired epicardially using a dedicated ultrasound machine on...