A study on normal reference values of echocardiographic chamber dimensions in newborn infants from Eastern India – A pilot study

Abstract

Introduction: Echocardiography has been an integral part of neonatal care since the 1990s and the application of this technology is increasing ever since. It is already known that differences in weight, age, and race significantly affect the normal heart dimensions. Therefore, establishing the normative values for cardiac dimensions among Indian healthy newborn infants is of paramount importance. In this study, we report the normal reference values of echocardiographic chamber dimensions of newborn infants from Eastern India. Methodology: One hundred healthy newborn infants were included in this cross-sectional, observational, single hospital-based pilot study. A single experienced cardiologist performed the transthoracic echocardiographic studies on the participants in supine position in their respective bassinets. No sedation was used. The parameters were distributed according to body weight and in percentiles. Results: Participants were categorized according to their body weight into three groups: 2–2.4 kg, 2.5–2.9 kg, and 3–3.5 kg. Each group comprises 7, 50, and 43 newborns, respectively. The left ventricular end-diastolic dimension and left ventricular end-systolic dimension showed incremental trends across body weight. Conclusion: This study shows the difference of cardiac dimensions in Indian newborn infants from Western data. This is the first study presenting the normative reference ranges and percentiles of echocardiographic parameters in Indian newborn infants which needs confirmation with larger multicenter studies.