Kinematic analysis of diastolic function using the freely available software Echo E-waves - feasibility and...

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Early diastolic left ventricular (LV) filling can be modeled using classical mechanics principles, termed the Parameterized Diastolic Filling (PDF) formalism.
• The PDF method mathematically describes E-waves from pulsed wave (PW) Doppler using LV stiffness, viscoelasticity, and load constants.
• Existing methods lacked efficient software for PDF analysis, hindering its clinical application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a freely available software application, Echo E-waves, for Parameterized Diastolic Filling (PDF) analysis.
• To assess the feasibility, time efficiency, and intra- and interobserver variability of the Echo E-waves software.
• To provide a practical tool for kinematic analysis of diastolic function using Doppler echocardiography.

Main Methods:

• Development of a semi-automatic software application (Echo E-waves) capable of analyzing DICOM files from various vendors.
• Analysis of E-waves from 20 patients by two independent investigators using the developed software.
• Assessment of analysis time, intra- and interobserver variability for derived PDF parameters.

Main Results:

• The Echo E-waves software demonstrated rapid semi-automatic analysis and results export.
• Median analysis time for a significant portion of E-waves per patient was 4.3 minutes.
• 12 out of 14 analyzed parameters showed good to excellent intra- and interobserver variability (CV 2.5-18.7%, ICC 0.80-0.99).

Conclusions:

• The implementation of the Parameterized Diastolic Filling (PDF) method in the freely available Echo E-waves software is highly feasible.
• The software offers a time-efficient solution for kinematic analysis of diastolic function.
• The Echo E-waves software exhibits good to excellent intra- and interobserver variability, supporting its clinical utility in Doppler echocardiography.