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13-04-2024 | Transposition of the Great Artery | Original Paper

Fetal left and right ventricular strain parameters using speckle tracking in congenital heart diseases

Authors: Krista Young, Candace Hooton, M Bridget Zimmerman, Benjamin Reinking, Umang Gupta

Published in: The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging

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Abstract

Assessment of fetal ventricular function is mostly subjective, and currently, for the objective assessment left ventricular shortening fraction is obtained. However, this by itself is not very reliable. Hence, more tools that can provide an objective assessment are needed to increase the confidence of functional assessment. Speckle tracking imaging can provide one such tool. In this study we sought to establish the normative value of global longitudinal and circumferential strain for our fetal patients and for two major forms of congenital heart diseases, namely atrioventricular canal defects (AVC) and uncorrected dextro-transposition of the great arteries (dTGA) to act as a benchmark. The study was completed via a single center retrospective analysis on 72 fetal echocardiograms (26 normal, 15 dTGA, and 31 AVC). Tomtec Arena™ echocardiography analysis software was used for analysis. In normal fetuses, mean left ventricular (LV) global longitudinal strain (GLS) was − 22.6% (95% CI -24, -21.1) and mean right ventricular (RV) GLS was − 22.1% (95% CI -23.6, -20.6). In AVC patients LV GLS was-26.6% (95% CI -28,-25.3) and mean RV GLS was − 26.5% (95% CI -27.9,-25.2). In dTGA patients LV GLS was − 22.9% (95% CI of -24.8, -21) and RV GLS was − 21.3% (95% CI was − 23.4, -20.8). There was good intra-rater reliability though poor to fair inter-rater reliability. Notwithstanding its current limitations, strain imaging can provide useful information that can increase confidence of cardiac functional assessment in fetal patients. However, to be reliable across the board, further automation and standardization is required.
Literature
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Metadata
Title
Fetal left and right ventricular strain parameters using speckle tracking in congenital heart diseases
Authors
Krista Young
Candace Hooton
M Bridget Zimmerman
Benjamin Reinking
Umang Gupta
Publication date
13-04-2024
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging
Print ISSN: 1569-5794
Electronic ISSN: 1875-8312
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10554-024-03094-y