Real-time three-dimensional echocardiography for improved evaluation of diastolic function using volume-time curves.

BACKGROUND: Accurate assessment of left ventricular function is of the greatest importance in clinical cardiology for decision making. Diastolic dysfunction is getting more concern as a cause of heart failure while, currently used non-invasive modalities for diagnosing diastolic abnormalities have significant limitations. Dynamic left ventricular volume change was applied for the evaluation of diastolic function by various techniques that have been demonstrated to be of diagnostic value. However, it has not been accepted into clinical practice because existing techniques are either invasive, inaccurate, expensive or time consuming. REAL-TIME THREE-DIMENSIONAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY: Real-time three-dimensional (3-D) echocardiography is a new ultrasound technique that provides transthoracic volumetric images of the heart in real time. Thereby, the acquired images are ideally suited for the assessment of dynamic left ventricular volume change. Generation and analysis of left ventricular volume-time curves by real-time 3-D echocardiography has been demonstrated to be feasible in normal subjects and patients and accuracy of volume-time curves was good compared to magnetic resonance imaging. We compare the new real-time 3-D echo approach with the advantages and limitations of existing noninvasive and invasive techniques.