INITIAL EXPERIENCE WITH AN INTERNALLY ROTATING TRANSTHORACIC 3-DIMENSIONAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC PROBE AND IMAGE ACQUISITION ON A CONVENTIONAL ECHOCARDIOGRAM MACHINE

Three-dimensional echocardiography has required motorized external sca nning devices that move a standard echo transducer to obtain data sets before reconstruction These transducer holders are susceptible to axi s alignment errors and transducer movement. The use of a three-dimensi onal work-station makes acquisition cumbersome. An internally rotating 5-MHz ''omniplane'' transthoracic transducer, specifically designed f or three-dimensional echocardiography, and an integrated three-dimensi onal acquisition software package that allows single machine acquisiti ons were validated in 50 pediatric patients. Children were 1 day to 16 years old and had 22 different cardiac pathological conditions imaged . Ninety-eight of the 104 (94%) data sets collected were successfully reconstructed in three dimensions. Acquisitions took 3-6 minutes depen ding on the increment of internal rotation. Minimum total study time t o set up and complete the acquisition was 12 minutes. The new probe an d software makes three-dimensional acquisitions and reconstructions of consistently high quality, rapid, reliable, and user friendly.