Rapid and accurate quantification of right ventricular volume and stroke volume by real-time 3-dimensional triplane echocardiography.
BACKGROUND
Previous studies have demonstrated that 3-Dimensional (3-D) echocardiography can determine right ventricular (RV) volume accurately. However, this technique has not been feasible in everyday clinical practice because of the necessity of time-consuming off-line processes.


OBJECTIVE
A newly developed real-time 3-D triplane echocardiography, which acquires 3 apical rotational cross-sectional images simultaneously, holds the promise to resolve these problems.


RESULTS
Sixteen excised formalin fixed porcine hearts and 24 healthy human subjects underwent real-time 3-D triplane echocardiography. In an anatomic in vitro study, the actual volume of RV was obtained by spilling water in the RV cavity into a graduated cylinder for measurement, which served as a reference standard for comparison. For healthy subjects, the RV stroke volume (SV) was measured by triplane echocardiography which was compared with the left ventricular (LV) SV obtained by conventional 2-Dimensional echocardiography (2-DE). Excellent correlation and agreement between 3-D triplane imaging derived RV volume and the actual one for excised porcine hearts were observed (r = 0.979, p < 0.001, mean difference 2.2 mL). In healthy human subjects, good correlation and agreement between 3-D triplane imaging derived RV SV and LV SV measured by 2-DE were obtained (r = 0.970, p < 0.001, mean difference 5.9 mL).


CONCLUSIONS
Real-time 3-D triplane echocardiography provides us a new method for rapid and accurate quantification of RV volume. Furthermore, this new method holds the promise for evaluating RV volume and SV in routine clinical practice.
Liu
Ya-Ni
YN
Department of Medical Ultrasound, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Deng
You-Bin
YB
Liu
Bing-Bing
BB
Zhang
Qing-Yang
QY
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D003199:Computer Systems; D004452:Echocardiography; D019560:Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D013318:Stroke Volume / Q000502:physiology*; D013552:Swine