A transoesophageal echocardiographic image acquisition protocol for wide-view fusion of three-dimensional datasets to support atrial fibrillation catheter ablation.

PURPOSE: The aim of this paper is to propose a transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) image acquisition protocol which provides a systematic manner of acquiring a minimal number of overlapping 3D TOE datasets allowing the reconstruction of a wide 3D view of the left atrium (LA) with anatomical landmarks that are important for atrial fibrillation catheter ablation.
METHODS: In eight cardiac surgical patients, 3D TOE datasets were acquired with a six-step protocol. In the protocol, step 1 aims to acquire the central view of the mitral valve (MV), aortic valve (AV) and left atrial appendage (LAA). Step 2 was developed to acquire the left pulmonary veins (PVs) and step 3 to acquire the right PVs. Steps 4, 5 and 6 were developed to create a sufficient overlap between different datasets. 3D TOE datasets were registered and fused manually in end diastole.
RESULTS: The image acquisition protocol was feasible in all patients. In the fused 3D dataset, a wide 3D view of the LA is shown, and left and right PVs could be seen simultaneously. The LAA, MV, AV and fossa ovalis (FO) were visualised clearly in the 3D TOE datasets. The PV ostia, which are located at the edges of the 3D datasets, suffered more from the artefact of echo loss. The volume overlaps between neighbouring TOE datasets were 50-75 %.
CONCLUSION: The major part of the LA anatomy incorporating the PVs, LAA, MV, AV and FO as important anatomical landmarks can be reconstructed by registering and fusing 3D datasets acquired with the six-step TOE image acquisition protocol.