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Updated: Jun 12, 2026
Murine Fetal Echocardiography
Published on: February 15, 2013
Comparison of tissue Doppler velocities obtained by different types of echocardiography systems: are they compatible?
Mónika Dénes1, Katalin Farkas, Tamás Erdei
1Gottsegen György Hungarian Institute of Cardiology, H-1096 Budapest, Hungary. denesmoni@gmail.com
Insights
Tissue Doppler (TD) velocities, crucial for heart function assessment, showed significant overestimation by the Sonos system compared to the Philips system. For consistent patient monitoring, use the same echocardiography equipment for serial measurements.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Echocardiography
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Tissue Doppler (TD) imaging is vital for assessing systolic and diastolic heart function.
- Variations in echocardiography systems may impact diagnostic accuracy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare tissue Doppler (TD) velocity measurements between two distinct echocardiography systems: Sonos 2000 and Philips iE33.
- To evaluate the agreement and potential interchangeability of these measurements.
Main Methods:
- Systolic (Sa), early diastolic (Ea), and late diastolic (Aa) velocities were measured using TD at the lateral mitral annulus in 31 patients.
- Measurements were performed on both Sonos 2000 and Philips iE33 systems.
- The E/Ea ratio was calculated to assess left ventricular filling pressures.
Main Results:
- The Sonos system systematically overestimated Ea, Aa, and Sa velocities compared to the Philips system (P < 0.0001 for all).
- While Ea and Ea/Aa showed strong correlations (r = 0.84-0.85), Aa correlation was weaker (r = 0.43).
- Bland-Altman analysis revealed broad limits of agreement, indicating poor interchangeability between systems.
Conclusions:
- Despite good correlations for some parameters, the Sonos system overestimates TD velocities.
- The wide limits of agreement preclude replacing measurements from one system with another.
- Consistent use of the same echocardiography equipment is recommended for longitudinal patient follow-up.
Background:
Both systolic and diastolic tissue Doppler (TD) velocities have an important diagnostic and prognostic role in cardiology. We aimed to compare TD velocities between two different echocardiography systems.
Patients:
Thirty-one consecutive patients (mean age: 65.2 +/- 17.5 years; 12 males) were enrolled.
Methods:
Systolic (Sa), early (Ea), and late (Aa) diastolic velocities were measured by TD at the lateral mitral annulus by a Sonos 2000 (Hewlett-Packard, Andover, MA, USA) and a Philips iE33 system. The E/Ea ratio was calculated.
Results:
Ea, Aa, and Sa velocities were higher when measured by the Sonos system (Ea: 13.2 +/- 4.1 cm/s vs. 8.3 +/- 3.6 cm/s; Aa: 14.8 +/- 3.8 cm/s vs. 9.3 +/- 2.3 cm/s; Sa: 15.2 +/- 3.6 cm/s vs. 8.4 +/- 2.0 cm/s; P < 0.0001 all). A significant correlation was found in Ea and in Ea/Aa (r = 0.84 and r = 0.85 resp; P < 0.0001 for both), and a weaker in Aa (r = 0.43; P = 0.02) between the machines. The Bland-Altman analysis showed broad limits of agreement between the measurements for Ea, Aa, and Sa (mean difference: 4.95 cm/s; 5.52 cm/s; 6.73 cm/s, respectively; limits: 0.64-9.25 cm/s; -1.39-12.39 cm/s; -0.37-13.83 cm/s, respectively). An E/Ea ratio >5.6 by the Sonos system showed 75% sensitivity and 79% specificity for elevated left ventricular filling pressure, defined as E/Ea >10 by the reference Philips system.
Conclusions:
Although diastolic TD velocities had excellent correlations between the two machines, there was a systematic overestimation by the Sonos system. Since the limits of agreement do not allow replacing the measurements, we suggest using the same echocardiographic equipment at patient follow-up.
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