Assessment of left ventricular volumes and systolic function by real-time tri-plane echocardiography in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of real-time tri-plane echocardiography (RT-3PE) for quantifying left ventricular volumes and systolic function in the patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease. Methods Left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVEDV), left ventricular end systolic volume (LVESV) and Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were acquired by RT-3PE in 20 normal controls, 16 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and 23 patients with coronary artery disease. Meanwhile, these parameters were also measured by M-mode Teichholtz method and two-dimensional echocardiography biplane Simpson method. Results ①In normal controls, there were no significant difference among the LVEDV, LVESV and LVEF measured by RT-3PE, 2DE biplane Simpson method and M-mode Teichholtz method. Furthermore, 2DE had better correlation with RT-3PE than M-mode for LVEF (r=0.91, 0.85, P0.05, respectively). ②In the patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease, although the measures of LVEDV and LVESV with RT-3PE were larger than those with 2DE, there was a good correlation (r=0.99, 0.98, P0.05) between RT-3PE and 2DE for LVEF measurement, and there was no significant difference between the two methods. At the same time, there was statistically significant difference between RT-3PE and M-mode for left ventricular volumes, and resulted in less accuracy of LVEF. ③For LVEDV, LVESV and LVEF obtained by RT-3PE, intraobserver repeatabilities were excellent (r=0.98, 0.97, 0.88, P0.05). Conclusion RT-3PE is a simple, rapid, and pragmatic method to measure left ventricular volumes and systolic functions in patients with segmental wall motion abnormalities or left ventricular dilation.