Study limitations
The present study still existed some limitations. First of all, 3D-STE
uses low frame rate to collect real-time three-dimensional full volume
images for analysis, which will cause the loss of myocardial motion
information and low image resolution. In addition, the image quality is
very high. It needs to show the endocardium clearly and then trace it.
If necessary, it needs to be manually adjusted, which exists great
subjectivity. Furthermore, 3D-STE is not suitable for image acquisition
of patients with irregular heart rhythm, and the scanning angle of
3D-STE is narrow, so it is difficult to obtain complete image
information for patients with large heart. Finally, we had a relatively
small study population, so it is necessary to expand the sample size for
further study in the future.