Reference values for left ventricular volumes with real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Medical Imaging
• Echocardiography

Background:

• Echocardiography is crucial for assessing cardiac function.
• Real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) offers advanced visualization of cardiac structures.
• Establishing normal reference ranges is vital for accurate diagnosis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine normal reference ranges for left ventricular (LV) volume indexes (VI) and ejection fraction (EF).
• To utilize fast real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) with online analysis for these measurements.
• To provide a valuable tool for evaluating LV systolic dysfunction.

Main Methods:

• 166 healthy participants (79 males, 87 females, aged 29-80 years) underwent RT3DE and Doppler examinations.
• Online analysis was employed for RT3DE data acquisition.
• Reproducibility was assessed by comparing RT3DE with 2-dimensional echocardiography (2DE).

Main Results:

• Upper normal values for LV end-diastolic volume index (LVEDVI) and LV end-systolic volume index (LVESVI) were 82 ml/m² and 38 ml/m².
• The lower limit for LV ejection fraction (LVEF) was 49%.
• RT3DE showed high reproducibility with low coefficients of variability for LVEDV, LVESV, and LVEF.

Conclusions:

• The established reference values from a large, diverse group using RT3DE are valuable.
• These values can effectively aid in identifying the presence or absence of LV systolic dysfunction.
• RT3DE provides a reliable method for obtaining critical LV functional parameters.