LAUSR

The left atrium plays an important role in facilitating left ventricular filling by acting as a reservoir, passive conduit, and active booster pump, as well as a regulator of blood volume. Since the 90’s epidemiological data have shown consistently the prognostic importance of left atrial (LA) size even by using simple linear measurements. 1 At present, several parameters are readily obtain-able by echocardiography for the quantification of LA function. These include, LA volumes, ejection fraction, expansion index, LA reservoir strain, and booster strain. 2,3 Should we move forward for a combination of LA volume and function in every single echocardiography report? From a pathophysiological standpoint these two are tightly coupled and describe the progression of LA cardiomyopathy. Indeed, increasing number of studies provide evidence in favour of using many of these metrics as an integral part of the echo report. Impairment of LA reservoir strain is the earliest abnor-mality that can be detected by echocardiography in the spectrum