Left ventricular chamber dimensions and wall thickness by cardiovascular magnetic resonance: comparison with transthoracic echocardiography

AIMS: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is a reference standard imaging technique in assessment of cardiomyopathies due to the accurate measurement of cardiac volumes and mass. In clinical routine, transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is the standard first-line technique and is commonly used for follow-up. In this study we examined how CMR-derived measurement of left ventricular (LV) chamber dimensions and wall thickness correspond to TTE.

METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 101 subjects underwent TTE and CMR (men, n = 67, mean age 62 ± 9 years) and formed a normal group (n = 44), a group with dilated LV cavity (n = 33; LV internal dimensions in end-diastole ≥ 52 mm) and a group with increased LV wall thickness (n = 24; interventricular septum ≥ 12 mm, inferolateral wall both in end-diastole ≥ 12 mm). Standard TTE measurements of LV chamber and wall thickness were compared to CMR-derived values in the basal short-axis slice and the 3-chamber (3-CH) view. Interstudy reproducibility for CMR was done in 23 subjects. In all groups, there was a better agreement between TTE and 3-CH for all dimensions. The intraobserver and interobserver agreements were superior for 3-CH view. In addition, both CMR approaches showed sound interstudy reproducibility for all dimensions and in all groups.

CONCLUSION: We demonstrate a good agreement between CMR and TTE in LV chamber dimension and wall thickness measurements. We propose that with CMR using a 3-CH approach is superior in reproducibility and closer in concordance with TTE-derived values.