Myocardial tissue Doppler velocity imaging in children: comparative study between two ultrasound systems

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Cardiology
• Echocardiography
• Ultrasound Technology

Background:

• Ventricular tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) is crucial for assessing cardiac function in children.
• Comparing different ultrasound systems is essential for standardizing measurements.
• Interobserver and intraobserver variability are key factors in diagnostic accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare pulsed-wave tissue Doppler (PWTD) and color tissue Doppler (CTD) ventricular tissue velocities between GE Vivid 7 and Philips iE33 ultrasound systems.
• To evaluate the interobserver and intraobserver variability of these measurements.
• To assess the agreement of TDI-derived velocities across different echocardiography platforms.

Main Methods:

• Prospective acquisition of longitudinal PWTD and CTD images in 49 children.
• Measurements were taken from the right and left ventricular free wall and septum.
• Offline analysis was performed to determine velocity measurements and variability coefficients.

Main Results:

• PWTD velocities demonstrated reasonable agreement between GE and Philips systems, with low coefficients of variation (1-14%).
• CTD velocities showed substantial differences between GE and Philips systems, with higher coefficients of variation (4-25%).
• System-specific biases were noted, with CTD-derived peak velocities being consistently lower on the Philips system.

Conclusions:

• PWTD is a reliable method for assessing ventricular velocities across GE and Philips ultrasound platforms in pediatric populations.
• CTD measurements exhibit significant inter-system variability, necessitating caution when comparing data from different manufacturers.
• Standardization of CTD acquisition and analysis protocols may be required to improve consistency in pediatric cardiac assessments.