Assessment of left ventricular asynchrony using volume-time curves of 16 segments by real-time 3 dimensional echocardiography: comparison with tissue Doppler imaging.
BACKGROUND
Recent technical developments with high-resolution real-time 3 dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) facilitate the acquisition of high quality images and the analysis of segmental volume-time curves (VTCs).


OBJECTIVE
To assess left ventricular (LV) asynchrony using the VTCs of 16 segments by RT3DE, and to evaluate accuracy compared to tissue Doppler imaging (TDI).


METHODS
Twenty-three heart failure (HF) patients (LVEF: 25+/-6%, age: 60+/-13 years) and 16 normal controls underwent TDI and RT3DE. The standard deviation (SD3) of the end systolic time reaching minimal systolic volume for the 16 segments on VTCs was obtained by RT3DE. The standard deviation (SD2) of the electromechanical coupling time for the 8 segments was measured using TDI.


RESULTS
SD3 was markedly higher in HF patients than in controls (7.7+/-2.5 vs 1.5+/-1.0%, P<0.01) and increased as LVEF decreased (r=-0.85, P<0.01). SD2 was also significantly higher in HF patients (27.0+/-8.6 vs 12.6+/-5.0 ms, P<0.01) and had a good negative correlation with LVEF (r=-0.72, P<0.01). SD3 was well correlated to SD2 (r=0.66, P<0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
We suggest that analysis of VTCs in 16 segments using RT3DE may be a useful alternative to TDI for the evaluation of LV asynchrony.
Park
Seong-Mi
SM
Department of Cardiology, Inha University Hospital, Incheon, South Korea.
Kim
Ki-Chang
KC
Jeon
Min-Jae
MJ
Lee
Chang-Kun
CK
Kim
Dae-Hyeok
DH
Park
Keum-Soo
KS
Lee
Woo-Hyung
WH
Kwan
Jun
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler / Q000379:methods; D019560:Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*