title: Real time three-dimensional echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular function in heart failure patients: underestimation of left ventricular volume increases with the degree of dilatation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Accurate quantification of left ventricular (LV) volumes and ejection fraction (EF) is of critical importance. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is considered as the reference and three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) is an accurate method, but only few data are available in heart failure patients. We therefore sought to compare the accuracy of real time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) and two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE) for quantification of LV volumes and EF, relative to CMR imaging in an unselected population of heart failure patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We studied 24 patients (17 men, age 58 ± 15 years) with history of heart failure who underwent echocardiographic assessment of LV function (2DE, RT3DE) and CMR within a period of 24 hours. Mean LV end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) was 208 ± 109 mL (121 ± 64 mL/m(2) ) and mean LVEF was 31 ± 12.8%. 3DE data sets correlate well with CMR, particularly with respect to the EF (r: 0.8, 0.86, and 0.95; P < 0.0001 for LVEDV, LVESV, and EF, respectively) with small biases (-55 mL, -44 mL, 1.1%) and acceptable limits of agreement. RT3DE provides more accurate measurements of LVEF than 2DE (z= 2.1, P = 0.037) and lower variability. However, 3DE-derived LV volumes are significantly underestimated in patients with severe LV dilatation. In patients with LVEDV below 120 mL/m(2) , RT3DE is more accurate for volumes and EF evaluation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared with CMR, RT3DE is accurate for evaluation of EF and feasible in all our heart failure patients, at the expense of a significant underestimation of LV volumes, particularly when LVEDV is above 120 mL/m(2) .
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, University Hospital of Nice, Nice, France. moceri.p@chu-nice.fr
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Moceri
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Doyen
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bertora
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cerboni
authors.forename: Emile
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gibelin
mesh_terms: D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D003199:Computer Systems; D019560:Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013318:Stroke Volume; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology