Skip Navigation



European Journal of Echocardiography Advance Access published online on November 3, 2009
European Journal of Echocardiography, doi:10.1093/ejechocard/jep161
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
11/1/44    most recent
jep161v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Joshi, S.
Right arrow Articles by Fraser, A. G.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Joshi, S.
Right arrow Articles by Fraser, A. G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2009. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Reproducibility of myocardial velocity and deformation imaging in term and preterm infants

Suchita Joshi1, Julie M. Edwards2, Dirk G. Wilson3, Joon K. Wong3, Sailesh Kotecha1 and Alan G. Fraser2,*

1 Department of Child Health, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
2 Wales Heart Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF14 4XN, UK
3 Department of Paediatric Cardiology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK

Received 2 July 2009; accepted after revision 13 October 2009.

* Corresponding author. Tel: +44 29 2074 3489; fax: +44 29 2074 3500. E-mail address: fraserag{at}cardiff.ac.uk


  Abstract

Aims: 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.

Methods and 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%.

Conclusion: 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.

Keywords: Infants; Preterm; Tissue Doppler; Reproducibility; Myocardial velocity; Strain


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.