We gratefully thank Dr Beyls and colleagues for their comment on the potential clinical value of left atrial (LA) strain to further assess left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) in intensive care unit (ICU) patients [
1]. LVDD is characterized by a prolonged LV relaxation compensated by an increased contribution of LA contraction at end-diastole to complete LV filling, and by elevated filling pressure, irrespective of LV systolic function. Accordingly, LA strain which uses angle-independent speckle tracking imaging to assess LA function, is proposed by Cardiologists for LVDD diagnosis [
2]. Whether it promises to be incorporated in the armamentarium of critical care echocardiography remains debatable for several reasons. …
