Contrast-enhanced echocardiography improves agreement on the assessment of ejection fraction and left ventricular function. A multicentre study

Abstract

Analysis of global and regional left ventricular function has important therapeutic and prognostic implications 1–3. Several imaging modalities are used to define left ventricular function and left ventricular volumes as well as regional function, among them echocardiography, cineventriculography, radionuclide ventriculography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cardiac MRI has evolved in recent years as the gold standard for determination of left ventricular mass, volumes and left ventricular function owing to the high image quality allowing clear endocardial and epicardial border definition in volumetric data sets 4,5. Echocardiography is the most frequently used modality in clinical practice to define global and regional left ventricular function. Limited endocardial border definition with subsequent moderate reproducibility and accuracy are the major limitation of 2-D echocardiography. Contrast echocardiography in combination with recent innovations in ultrasound technology like Harmonic Imaging has been shown to significantly improve endocardial border delineation especially in patients with difficult imaging conditions which was unattainable before 6–8. The SonoVue LV Function Group evaluated in a European multicentre study consisting of two parts the utility of contrast-enhanced echocardiography for assessment of global and regional left