Great vessel, cardiac chamber, and wall growth patterns in normal children.

The purpose of this study was to establish normal echocardiographic measurements of valvular motion, cavity dimensions, great vessel diameters, and right, left and septal wall thicknesses of children ranging in size from infants to full growth. The study group was composed of 205 normal, healthy children for whom echocardiograms and subsequent measurements were performed in a standardized manner. The following measurements were performed: left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic dimension, right ventricular end-diastolic cavity dimension, right ventricular end-diastolic anterior wall thickness, left ventricular end-diastolic posterior wall thickness, ventricular septal end-diastolic thickness, maximal left atrail dimension, end-diastolic aortic and pulmonary artery diameter, end-diastolic cardiac and septal depth, maximal aortic leaflet separation, and maximal anterior mitral and anterior tricupsid amplitude. Data are grouped into the fifth, fiftieth, and ninety-fifty percentiles according to body surface area. These graphs allow measurements of a single patient to be compared to normal measurements of individuals with similar body surface area.