Using real-time three-dimensional echocardiography to quantify in vivo ventricular mass

Purpose This in vivo experimental study was designed to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of real-time three-dimensional echocardiography(RT-3DE) for quantifying ventricular mass. Methods The hearts of twelve normal experimental pigs [weight(13-23.5) kg,mean(20.17±(2.79)) kg] were examined by RT-3DE and two-dimensional echocardiography(2DE) with Philips/Sonos 7500 ultrasound system.The ventricular wall mass was outlined and calculated by RT-3DE 8-plane method with the 4D Cardio-View RT of Tomtec image system and 2DE Simpson method.The true value of porcine ventricular wall mass weighed by the scales was served as a reference standard. Results Full volume imaging in all porcine hearts was well displayed by RT-3DE.The measurements of left ventricular end-diastolic(62.37±5.63) g and end-systolic(61.26±7.89) g wall mass with RT-3DE were close to the true value of porcine left ventricular wall mass(62.99±9.67) g with well correlation(r=0.88,r=0.86).The measurements of right ventricular end-diastolic(19.66±2.95) g and end-systolic(20.18±2.87) g free wall mass with RT-3DE were close to the true value of porcine right ventricular free wall mass(20.56±3.22) g with well correlation(r=0.88,r=0.87).The measurements with 2DE were underestimated and poorly correlated with the true value. Conclusions RT-3DE is a valuable technique to quantify in vivo ventricular wall mass.