Clinical application of transthoracic volume-rendered three-dimensional echocardiography in the assessment of mitral regurgitation

Abstract

Two-dimensional echocardiography (2-DE) and Doppler methods are generally used for assessing mechanisms and severity of mitral regurgitation (MR). Recently, 3-dimensional echocardiography (3-DE) has been applied successfully in various cardiac disorders, but its value in evaluating the mechanism and the severity of MR are not known. We studied 30 patients with MR using 2-DE and 3-DE. Volume-rendered gray-scale 3-DE images of the mitral valve apparatus and MR jets were reconstructed. Maximal volume of the MR jet by 3-DE was compared with mitral regurgitant volume and fraction, regurgitant jet area and the ratio of jet area to left atrial area, and semiquantitative grading derived from 2-DE methods. Our results demonstrated that 3-DE aided in a better depiction of the mitral apparatus and its abnormalities in 70% of the patients. The origin, direction, and morphology of the MR jet were better delineated in 3-DE volumetric display. Quantitative analysis, however, showed only a weak to moderate correlation between 3-DE maximal MR jet volume and 2-DE mitral regurgitant volume ( y=0.5 x+11.4, r = 0.7), regurgitant fraction ( y=0.5 x+8.2, r = 0.65), mitral regurgitant jet area ( y=0.2 x+5, r = 0.51), jet area to left atrial area ratio ( y=0.53 x+7.6, r = 0.54), and semiquantitative grading of MR ( y=9.1 x−1.8, r = 0.74). In conclusion, 3-DE aids in a better understanding of the mechanisms of MR and morphology of the regurgitant jets. Its quantitative ability, when reconstruction of the jet alone is used, may be limited.