Related Experiment Videos
Assessment of left ventricular function by real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography compared with conventional
1Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Insights
Real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography accurately quantifies left ventricular ejection fraction, offering a valuable alternative to conventional methods. This advanced technique shows strong correlation and reduced variability compared to 2D echocardiography.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Medical Imaging
- Echocardiography
Background:
- Quantitative assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is crucial for cardiac evaluation.
- Multigated radionuclide angiography (MUGA) is a standard for LVEF measurement.
- Conventional 2D echocardiography has limitations in accurate LVEF quantification.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the accuracy of real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) with MUGA for LVEF assessment.
- To evaluate the correlation between RT3DE and 2D echocardiography against MUGA.
- To assess interobserver variability between RT3DE and 2D echocardiography methods.
Main Methods:
- Real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography was performed in 56 patients undergoing MUGA.
- LVEF was calculated using RT3DE (parallel plane-disks and sector plane-disks methods) and 2D echocardiography.
- RT3DE and 2D echocardiography results were compared with MUGA in 43 patients.
Main Results:
- RT3DE demonstrated good correlation with MUGA (r = 0.87 and 0.90).
- 2D echocardiography showed significant departure from MUGA (P <.001).
- RT3DE exhibited significantly lower interobserver variability than 2D echocardiography (P <.05).
Conclusions:
- RT3DE provides accurate quantitative assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction.
- RT3DE is a reliable alternative to conventional methods for LVEF quantification.
- Adequate image quality is necessary for successful RT3DE application.
Abstract:
Quantitative assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction is an essential component of cardiac evaluation. We performed real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography in 56 consecutive patients who underwent multigated radionuclide angiography. Thirteen patients were excluded for the following reasons: 5 for large size of left ventricle required for image acquisition, 5 for suboptimal image quality in real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography, and 3 for atrial fibrillation. Finally, we compared left ventricular ejection fraction assessed by real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography and conventional 2-dimensional echocardiography with that obtained by multigated radionuclide angiography in 43 patients. Left ventricular ejection fraction was determined by real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography with the use of parallel plane-disks and sector plane-disks summation methods. A good correlation was obtained between both real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography methods and multigated radionuclide angiography (r = 0.87 and 0.90, standard error of estimate = 3.7% and 4.2%), whereas the relation between the 2-dimensional echocardiography method and radionuclide angiography demonstrated a significant departure from the line of identity (P <.001). In addition, interobserver variability was significantly lower (P <.05) for the real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography methods than that by the 2-dimensional echocardiography method. Real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography may be used for quantification of left ventricular function as an alternative to conventional methods in patients with adequate image quality.