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[Determination of left atrial size. Comparison between echocardiographic and radiological determination]
Insights
Echocardiography accurately measures left atrial size in mitral valve disease patients. Radiological methods show weaker correlations, making echocardiography the preferred diagnostic tool for left atrial assessment.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Left atrial size is a crucial indicator in mitral valve disease.
- Accurate measurement is vital for patient management and prognosis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the accuracy of echocardiography and radiology in determining left atrial size.
- To establish the most sensitive method for left atrial size assessment in mitral valve disease.
Main Methods:
- Evaluated 66 patients with mitral valve disease (NYHA class I-IV).
- Used M-mode and 2D echocardiography, postero-anterior and lateral chest X-rays.
- Employed cine-angiocardiography as the reference standard.
Main Results:
- Echocardiographic methods (M-mode and 2D) showed excellent agreement and high correlation with cine-angiography (r=0.82-0.99).
- Radiological measurements demonstrated weaker, though significant, correlations with echocardiography and angiocardiography (r=0.47-0.56).
Conclusions:
- M-mode and 2D echocardiography are highly sensitive and reliable for assessing left atrial size.
- Radiological methods are less accurate for determining left atrial dimensions in this patient cohort.
Abstract:
The size of the left atrium was determined echocardiographically and radiologically in 66 patients with mitral valve disease, grade I-IV (New York Heart Association classification). Angiocardiography served as the reference. The echocardiographic determination was both by M-mode and two-dimensional, the radiological one was from the postero-anterior films (after Higgins), as well as from the lateral pictures. There was good agreement between the two echocardiographic methods and a good correlation of the two with cine-angiographic measurements (r = 0.82-0.99; P less than 0.001). But there was a poorer, although still statistically significant correlation of the radiologically determined atrial size with the echocardiographic and angiocardiographic measurements (r = 0.47-0.56; P less than 0.001). Thus M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography is the more sensitive method for determining the size of the left atrium.