Impact of cardiac growth on Doppler tissue imaging velocities: a study in healthy children.
BACKGROUND
Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) is a useful modality to quantitatively assess regional myocardial function. Studies attempting to establish reference values for DTI velocities in healthy children have been limited by small sample sizes and limited age distribution. In addition, the clinical effect of cardiac growth and other demographic and echocardiographic parameters on DTI velocities during childhood has not been adequately evaluated.


METHODS
Pulsed wave DTI velocities were obtained in 325 healthy children at the lateral mitral annulus, interventricular septum, and lateral tricuspid annulus during early diastole, late diastole, and ventricular systole and were compared with demographic and echocardiographic study variables.


RESULTS
In healthy children, parameters of cardiac growth, most notably left ventricular end-diastolic dimension, have the most significant correlation with the majority of DTI velocities. Age was also significantly correlated with most DTI velocities whereas sex, heart rate, and other echocardiographic parameters demonstrated minimal or no correlation.


CONCLUSIONS
This study establishes reference values for DTI velocities and demonstrates the important clinical effects of cardiac growth and age on DTI velocities in neonates and children.
Lillie Frank Abercrombie Section of Pediatric Cardiology, Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, 6621 Fannin-MC 19-345C, Houston, TX 77030, USA. beidem@bcm.tmc.edu
Benjamin W
BW
Eidem
Colin J
CJ
McMahon
Radha R
RR
Cohen
Jin
J
Wu
Irina
I
Finkelshteyn
John P
JP
Kovalchin
Nancy A
NA
Ayres
Louis I
LI
Bezold
E
E
O'Brian Smith
Ricardo H
RH
Pignatelli
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology*; D001830:Body Surface Area; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000254:growth & development*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007229:Infant Welfare; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D015588:Observer Variation; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013318:Stroke Volume / Q000502:physiology; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology; D014261:Tricuspid Valve / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D016276:Ventricular Function; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology