title: Mitigation of Variability among 3D Echocardiography-Derived Regional Strain Values Acquired by Multiple Ultrasound Systems by Vendor Independent Analysis.
abstract: This study compared the variability of 3D echo derived circumferential and longitudinal strain values computed from vendor-specific and vendor-independent analyses of images acquired using ultrasound systems from different vendors.
  
  
  
  Ten freshly harvested porcine hearts were studied. Each heart was mounted on a custom designed phantom and driven to simulate normal cardiac motion. Cardiac rotation was digitally controlled and held constant at 5°, while pumped stroke volume (SV) ranged from 30-70ml. Full-volume image data was acquired using three different ultrasound systems from different vendors. The image data was analyzed for longitudinal and circumferential strains (LS, CS) using both vendor-specific and vendor-independent analysis packages.
  
  
  
  Good linear relationships were observed for each vendor-specific analysis package for both CS and LS at the mid-anterior segment, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.82-0.91 (CS) and 0.86-0.89 (LS). Comparable linear regressions were observed for results determined by a vendor independent program (CS: R = 0.82-0.89; LS: R = 0.86-0.89). Variability between analysis packages was examined via a series of ANOVA tests. A statistical difference was found between vendor-specific analysis packages (p<0.001), while no such difference was observed between ultrasound systems when using the vendor-independent program (p>0.05).
  
  
  
  Circumferential and longitudinal regional strain values differ when quantified by vendor-specific analysis packages; however, this variability is mitigated by use of a vendor-independent quantification method. These results suggest that echocardiograms acquired using different ultrasound systems could be meaningfully compared using vendor-independent software.
authors.affiliation: Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: Cole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Streiff
authors.affiliation: Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: Meihua
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: Eriko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.affiliation: Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Sahn
authors.affiliation: Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ashraf
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019560:Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional / Q000592:standards; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013552:Swine