3-DIMENSIONAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY - ADVANCES FOR MEASUREMENT OF VENTRICULAR VOLUME AND MASS

There is a need for more accurate and reproducible serial measurement of left ventricular volume and mass in individual subjects by echocard iography. Conventional echocardiography has significant measurement va riability because of its use of geometric assumptions and image plane positioning errors. Guided three-dimensional echocardiography eliminat es geometric assumptions and reduces image plane positioning errors by using a ''line of intersection'' display. Use of three-dimensional gu ided imaging for a one-dimensional measurement of the left ventricle r esulted in a threefold improvement of interobserver variability over c onventional echocardiographic measurements. Computer-aided three-dimen sional reconstruction of the ventricle for ventricular volume from a s eries of 8 to 10 short-axis images also achieved more than a threefold improvement of interobserver variability compared with two-dimensiona l echocardiography. Three-dimensional echocardiographic computation of ventricular volume and mass in healthy subjects was achieved with an accuracy comparable to magnetic resonance imaging and was superior to two-dimensional echocardiography. Three-dimensional echacardiography p romises to be a more accurate method of estimating left ventricular vo lume and mass and may be suitable for serial study of individual subje cts because of its improved accuracy and decreased interobserver varia bility compared with conventional echocardiographic methods.