Reproducibility of myocardial velocity and deformation imaging in term and preterm infants.
OBJECTIVE
Myocardial velocity imaging has been validated in adults for assessment of ventricular function and indirect indices of pulmonary arterial pressure. To establish whether it could also be used in infants, we investigated the reproducibility of myocardial velocities and deformation indices in term and preterm neonates.


RESULTS
Myocardial velocity loops acquired from 16 infants were analysed by four observers for inter-observer variability, and re-analysed after 6 months by one observer for intra-observer variability. For myocardial velocities, the coefficients of variation (CVs) for the left ventricle (LV) were 10-11 (intra-observer) and 14-20% (inter-observer) and for the right ventricle (RV) 15-19 and 18-24%, respectively. Reproducibility for annular displacements was <13% (intra-observer) and <18% (inter-observer). CVs for LV strain were 14-17 (intra-observer) and 36-43% (inter-observer) and for RV 19-24 and 25-37%. CVs for isovolumic acceleration were in general >40%. In comparison, the CVs for blood pool indices were 3-15%.


CONCLUSIONS
Intra-observer reproducibility for myocardial velocity and deformation indices in neonates is adequate for these parameters to be used in clinical research. Inter-observer reproducibility is sub-optimal suggesting that these measurements should be used in clinical practice with caution. Myocardial acceleration, a marker of contractile function, was poorly reproducible.
Joshi
Suchita
S
Department of Child Health, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
Edwards
Julie M
JM
Wilson
Dirk G
DG
Wong
Joon K
JK
Kotecha
Sailesh
S
Fraser
Alan G
AG
D016001:Confidence Intervals; D018618:Echocardiography, Doppler, Color; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006346:Heart Septum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000502:physiology*; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013599:Systole; D014261:Tricuspid Valve / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology; D016278:Ventricular Function, Right / Q000502:physiology