VOLUMETRIC EVALUATION OF AORTIC ATHEROCLEROSIS BY DYNAMIC THREE-DIMENSIONAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY








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VOLUMETRIC EVALUATION OF AORTIC ATHEROCLEROSIS BY DYNAMIC THREE-DIMENSIONAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY
M. Zwierzak, J. Drożdż, M. Plewka, M. Ciesielczyk, JD. Kasprzak, R. Jencek, K. Rafalska, M. Krzemińska-Pakuła
Department of cardiology University Łódź

Plaques in the thoracic aorta are visualised by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). The ability to provide the volumetric information of desired structure by three - dimensional echocardiography (3-D) provides the opportunity for quantitation. To determine whether 3-D could used for evaluation of aortic atherosclerosis we performed a number of volume calculations of the thoracic aorta using rotational TEE.
METHODS: Unselected, consecutive group of 21 patients (15 men, 53± 13 ys.) referred for TEE were studied. TEE probe was placed at the level of 35 cm from incisors. The rational datasets was sampled using 3� images planes intervals. The reformatted datasets were reviewed and the border between the aortic wall and lumen were determined. Two cm segment of the thoracic aorta was analysed by calculation of volume of the protruding aortic plaques. Both on-line TEE investigations and off-line volumetric data calculation were repeated for inter- and intraobserver variability.
RESULTS: The calculated volume of visualised plaques varied from 0.5 to 1.6 cm3 (mean 1.1± cm3). There was a borderline significant correlation between the number of analysed risk factors and plaque volume (R=0,51). The reproducibility of the method was high (correlation's coefficients of inter- and intraobserver variability varied from 0.89 to 0.98 being the highest for intraobsrver off-line volume calculation).
CONCLUSION: Aortic atherosclerosis of the thoracic aorta can be quantitatively evaluated bt three-dimensional transesphageal echocardiography by aortic plaquevolume.


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