Kang SJ, et al. - In this study, the diagnostic utility of PALS (Peak left atrial longitudinal strain) was compared with those of conventional echocardiographic indices of diastolic function. Based on the findings, impaired left atrial reservoir function could be detected as decreased PALS in children in the acute phase of Kawasaki disease (aKD). PALS outperformed E/E', E/A, and maximum left atrial volume index (LAVImax) for distinguishing aKD from controls. However, because of its low sensitivity and poor discriminative ability, PALS, like E/E', E/A, and LAVImax, as a single parameter was limited in its clinical utility to differentiate aKD from controls.