Left Ventricular Mass in 169 Healthy Children and Young Adults Assessed by Three-Dimensional Echocardiography

The aims of this study were to establish normal values of left ventricular (LV) mass in children and young adults using three-dimensional echocardiography (3-DE) and to compare 3-DE LV mass estimates with those obtained by conventional echocardiographic methods. We studied 169 healthy subjects aged 2–27 years by digitized 3-D, two-dimensional (2-D), and M-mode echocardiography. 3-D echocardiography was performed by using rotational acquisition of planes at 18° intervals from apical view with ECG gating and without respiratory gating. 3-DE gave smaller LV mass estimates than 2-DE and M-mode echocardiography (p < 0.001). Agreement analysis resulted in a bias of −9.3 ± 36.5 g between 3-DE and 2-DE, and −18.5 ± 47.9 g between 3-DE and M-mode. For the analysis, the subjects were divided into five groups according to body surface area (BSA): 0.5–0.75, 0.75–1.0, 1.0–1.25, 1.25–1.5, and greater than 1.5 m². LV mass/BSA by 3-DE was 45.6 (5.1), 54.3 (7.7), 55.2 (7.9), 58.8 (8.1), and 65.0 (9.9) g/m². LV mass/end diastolic volume (EDV) by 3-DE was 0.9 (0.1) g/ml in the BSA group of 0.5–0.75 m² and 1.0 (0.2) g/ml in the other BSA groups. LV mass increased linearly in relation to BSA, height, and body mass (r = 0.93, 0.90, and 0.92, respectively; p < 0.001 for all). The results showed a linear increase in LV mass, whereas LV mass/EDV ratio remained unchanged. However, LV mass estimates by 3-DE were lower than those obtained by 2-DE and M-mode echocardiography. The data obtained by 3-DE from 169 healthy subjects will serve as a reference for further studies in patients with various cardiac abnormalities.