Influence of a rapid change of left ventricular dimensions on the echocardiographic measurement of left ventricular mass by the Penn convention

Objective The purpose of this study was to test the robustness of the measu rement of left ventricle mass (LVM), using Devereux's formula, in the prese nce of a rapid change in left ventricular volume induced by nitroglycerin. Design Forty-eight healthy volunteers with excellent echocardiographic reco rdings were included, The intrapatient variability of LVM measurement was a ssessed by two consecutive echocardiograms, The intraobserver reproducibili ty was assessed by the rereading of 19 echocardiograms by the same observer , The effects of nitroglycerin were compared with those of a placebo in a d ouble-blind random manner on, the left ventricular internal dimension in di astole (LVIDd), the interventricular septum thickness, the posterior wall t hickness and the LVM. Results It was shown that both the intrapatient and the intraobserver repro ducibility were high. Nitroglycerin induced a significant decrease in LVIDd compared with placebo(-0.21 +/- 0.24 versus 0.01 +/- 0.21 cm, respectively , P< 0.01) and a non-significant increase in wall thickness, These variatio ns were negatively correlated with each other (r = -0.58, P< 0.01), Despite the change of ventricular dimensions, the variation of LVM induced by nitr oglycerin was not significantly different from that induced by placebo (2.0 +/- 16.0 versus 4.7 +/- 17.0 g, respectively, not significant) and close t o the intrapatient variability. Conclusion This experiment failed to demonstrate any influence of a rapid v ariation of ventricle size on the calculation of LVM with the Penn conventi on and strongly supports the robustness of the method in vivo. J Hypertens 1999, 17:1323-1328 (C) Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.