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Left atrial volume assessed by ECG-gated computed tomography: Variations according to age, gender and time during the
E Fayad1, S Boucebci1, G Vesselle1
1Department of Radiology, CHU of Poitiers, rue de la milétrie, 86000 Poitiers, France.
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to retrospectively assess the accuracy of the maximal left atrial volume (LAVmax) measured at 75% of the cardiac cycle compared to the 40% measurements and to evaluate this volume according to age and gender.
Patients And Method:
A total of 150 patients with a mean age of 50±17 (SD) years (range: 21-79 years) were analyzed. There were 78 men and 72 women. LAVmax were measured from retrospective triphasic cardiac-gated multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) data at the 40% (LAV40) and 75% (LAV75) of the RR cycle phases by a semi-automatic method.
Results:
LAV40was 50.7±14mL/m2 and LAV75 was 42.5±13mL/m2. The difference was statistically significant. Considering the reference range of LAVmax reported in the literature, 33% of the patients had enlarged LA with LAV40 and only 17% with LAV75. These volumes were positively influenced by age but not by gender. The relationship between LAV75 and LAV40 was: LAV75=0.908 LAV40-3.486 (r2=0.92) or LAV40=1.1×LAV75+3.8 (r2=0.92).
Conclusion:
LAVmax measured at the 75% of the cardiac cycle phase significantly underestimates actual LAV leading to reconsider normal values. LAV40 can be computed from the measured value of LAV75 obtained on prospective ECG-gated MDCT.
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