3-DIMENSIONAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC MEASUREMENT OF RIGHT-VENTRICULAR VOLUME IN CHILDREN WITH CONGENITAL HEART-DISEASE VALIDATED BY MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING

Measurement of right ventricular volume and function by two-dimensiona l echocardiography is unreliable because of the asymmetric shape of th e right ventricle. The purpose of this study was to validate the accur acy of transthoracic three-dimensional echocardiography in assessing r ight: ventricular volumes in children with congenital heart disease af ter surgical repair of the defects, by comparison with those measured by magnetic resonance imaging. We examined 13 children after repair of tetralogy of Fallot (10), hypoplastic left heart syndrome (2), or atr ial septal defect (1). Each underwent magnetic resonance imaging follo wed by three-dimensional echocardiography done with a transthoracic 5 MHz, prototype internally rotating omniplane transducer. In both metho ds, endocardial borders were manually traced and volumetric slices wer e sammated. Close correlation was observed between the two methods (R- 2 0.91 for endsystolic volumes, 0.90 for end-diastolic volumes, 0.64 f or ejection fraction, and 0.92 for interobserver variability). A limit s-of-agreement: analysis showed no adverse trend between the two metho ds under values of 100 mi and low variation around the mean values. We conclude that three-dimensional echocardiography measurement of right ventricular volumes correlates closely with magnetic resonance imagin g in children with operated congenital heart disease and may allow acc urate serial evaluation in these patients.