Quantification of Left Ventricular Volumes Using Three-dimensional Echocardiography: Comparison With 64-slice Multidetector Computed Tomography

Abstract

It is important to correctly assess left ventricular volumes and ejection fraction (EF) in patients with heart diseases. Data calculated by transthoracic real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) and 16-slice multidetector computed tomography (16-MDCT) have been tested and compared with references from cardiac magnetic resonance images. Results from 16-MDCT shows larger left ventricular volumes and smaller left ventricular EF when compared with those from trans-thoracic RT3DE and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Recently, it has been reported that the same measurements as determined by 64-MDCT are similar to those from cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. There are no reports on the comparison of left ventricular volume and EF derived from transthoracic RT3DE with those from 64-MDCT. In this study, we aimed to compare both transthoracic RT3DE and two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE) measurements with 64-MDCT. Thirty healthy adults were examined. In 2DE, the left ventricular end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV) and EF were determined with Simpson's biplane method. The data acquired from transthoracic RT3DE and 64-MDCT were analyzed after the images were transferred to the workstation. There was a strong correlation of left ventricular EDV, ESV and EF measured by transthoracic RT3DE with 64-MDCT (y = 0.92x + 8.3, R 2 = 0.84; y = 0.82x + 7.75, R 2 = 0.92 and y = 0.83x + 11.5, R 2 = 0.85, respectively; all p < 0.01). The correlation of EDV, ESV and EF with 64-MDCT as assessed by 2DE was not as strong as that with transthoracic RT3DE (y = 0.71x + 28.42, R 2 = 0.65, y = 0.6x+16.27, R 2 = 0.75, y = 0.56x + 27.5, R 2 = 0.58, respectively; all p < 0.01). The intra-observer and inter-observer variability of transthoracic RT3DE were low, but there were greater differences in inter-observer examinations. In conclusion, we showed that the values of left ventricular volume and EF as measured by transthoracic RT3DE correlated well with those determined by 64-MDCT; however, measurements from 2DE were not as well correlated.