title: Left Ventricular Function in Healthy Term Neonates During the Transitional Period.
abstract: To evaluate whether incorporating conventional, tissue Doppler imaging and speckle tracking echocardiography are reliable and can characterize changes in left ventricular (LV) function properly in healthy neonates in the early transitional newborn period.
  
  
  
  A prospective observational study was conducted in 50 healthy term neonates with a mean ± SD gestational age and birth weight of 39.3 ± 1.2 weeks and 3.5 ± 0.44 kg, respectively. All infants underwent serial echocardiograms at 15 ± 2 (day 1) and 35 ± 2 hours (day 2) of age. The LV dimensions and various functional indices including tissue Doppler imaging velocities and speckle tracking echocardiography-derived peak longitudinal strain, and systolic and diastolic strain rate were acquired and compared between time points.
  
  
  
  All measurements were feasible from each scan except speckle tracking echocardiography in 10% and 20% of images on days 1 and 2 of age, respectively. LV dimensions, but not functional measures, demonstrated a small to moderate positive correlation with birth weight. On day 2, a small reduction was observed in LV basal diameter, mitral valve inflow velocity time integral, and systolic velocity of the lateral wall and septum. Other indices remained unchanged. Tissue Doppler imaging-derived functional and flow-derived hemodynamic measures demonstrated the least measurement bias, and strain measurements demonstrated better reliability than strain rate, fractional shortening, and ejection fraction.
  
  
  
  The relative reliability of various echocardiographic indices to quantify LV function in neonates establish a normative dataset and provide evidence for their validity during the first 2 days of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: ajain@mtsinai.on.ca.
authors.forename: Amish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, The Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; Department of Pediatrics, The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, School of Medicine, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Afif F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: El-Khuffash
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Radboud UMC, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bart C W
authors.initials: BCW
authors.lastname: Kuipers
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Adel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.affiliation: Division of Neonatology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; The Labatt Family Heart Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Kim A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Connelly
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Keenan Research Centre, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: McNamara
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; The Labatt Family Heart Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Keenan Research Centre, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Robert P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Jankov
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Heart and Stroke Richard Lewar Center of Excellence in Cardiovascular Research, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mertens
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler / Q000379:methods*; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D047929:Term Birth; D000069341:Transitional Care; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: newborn; speckle tracking echocardiography; tissue Doppler imaging