title: A comparison of echocardiographic and electron beam computed tomographic assessment of aortic valve area in patients with valvular aortic stenosis.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to compare electron beam computed tomography (EBT) with transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in determining aortic valve area (AVA). Thirty patients (9 females, 21 males) underwent a contrast-enhanced EBT scan (e-Speed, GE, San Francisco, CA, USA) and TTE within 17 +/- 12 days. In end-inspiratory breath hold, a prospectively ecg-triggered scan was acquired with a beam speed of 50-100 ms, a collimation of 2 x 1.5 mm and an increment of 3.0 mm. The AVA was measured with planimetry. A complete TTE study was performed in all patients, and the AVA was computed using the continuity equation. There was close correlation between AVA measured with EBT and AVA assessed with TTE (r = 0.60, P < 0.01). The AVA measured with EBT was 0.51 +/- 0.46 cm(2 )larger than the AVA calculated with TTE measurements. EBT appeared to be a valuable non-invasive method to measure the AVA. EBT measures the anatomical AVA, while with TTE the functional AVA is calculated, which explains the difference in results between the methods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30001, Groningen, 9700 RB, The Netherlands. l.h.piers@thorax.umcg.nl
authors.forename: Lieuwe H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Piers
authors.forename: Riksta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dikkers
authors.forename: René A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Tio
authors.forename: Maarten P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: van den Berg
authors.forename: Tineke P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Willems
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zijlstra
authors.forename: Matthijs
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oudkerk
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003287:Contrast Media; D004452:Echocardiography; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007479:Iopamidol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D008297:Male; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; C057937:iomeprol; D007479:Iopamidol