title: Diagnostic Value of Transthoracic Echocardiography in Patients with Coarctation of Aorta: The Chinese Experience in 53 Patients Studied between 2008 and 2012 in One Major Medical Center.
abstract: Although aortography is well known as the "gold standard" for the diagnosis of coarctation of aorta (CoA), the method is invasive, expensive and not readily accepted by some patients. Ultrasound diagnosis for CoA is non-invasive, inexpensive, readily accepted by every patient, and can be repeated as frequently as necessary. The purpose of this presentation is to evaluate the applicability of transthoracic echocardiography for the diagnosis of CoA. The echocardiographic appearances of 53 patients with CoA who had undergone surgery during a 5-year period from January 2008 to October 2012 were analyzed retrospectively, and the results were compared with findings at surgery. Fifty-three patients with CoA include six with isolated CoA and 47 of CoA associated with other cardiac anomalies. Of the 53 operated patients, 48 were correctly diagnosed preoperatively by echocardiography, while two were misdiagnosed as interrupted aortic arch and the diagnosis were missed in three other patients. Thus the diagnostic accuracy rate was 90.6%, and the misdiagnosis rate was 9.4%. Preoperative echocardiographic evaluation offers very satisfactory anatomic assessment in most patients with CoA. It makes preoperative angiography unnecessary. Thus transthoracic echocardiography should be the first-line method for the diagnosis of coarctation of the aorta.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhenxing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan, People's Republic of China; Department of Medicine, George Washington University Medical Center, 2150 Pennsylvania Avenue N. W., Washington, D. C., United States of America.
authors.forename: Tsung O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xinfang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Nianguo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Mingxing
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001017:Aortic Coarctation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult