Comparison of Accuracy of Left Atrial Area and Volume by Two-dimensional Trans-thoracic Echocardiography Versus Computed Tomography

• Published in: The American journal of cardiology 2019-04, Vol.123 (7), p.1180-1184
• Main Authors: Arsanjani, Reza, Flint, Nir, Beigel, Roy, Khachatryan, Tigran, Shalev, Aryeh, Shturman, Alexander, Lee, Chin, Rader, Florian, Berman, Daniel S., Heo, Ran, Siegel, Robert J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accuracy; Algorithms; Bias; Cardiac Volume; Cardiology; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular Diseases - diagnosis; Cardiovascular Diseases - physiopathology; Computation; Computed tomography; Confidence intervals; Echocardiography; Echocardiography - methods; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Heart Atria - diagnostic imaging; Humans; Male; Medical imaging; Middle Aged; Multidetector Computed Tomography - methods; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Organ Size; Reproducibility of Results; Retrospective Studies; ROC Curve; Software; Thorax; Volume measurement
• ISSN: 0002-9149; 1879-1913
• DOI: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2018.12.047

Left atrial (LA) size is prognostic of cardiovascular events and can be quantified as diameter, area, or volume. While LA area measurement by 2-dimensional (2D) echocardiography is performed by tracing LA borders in the apical 4-chamber view, LA volume is derived from a formula that is based on geometrical assumptions. We compared LA area and volume measurements obtained by trans-thoracic echocardiography (TTE) to those obtained using multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT). Sixty-four patients with MDCT and TTE performed within a 1-week period were included in the study. End-systolic LA area was planimetered from the 4-chamber view by TTE and MDCT. LA end-systolic volume was calculated using the biplane area-length (AL) method in both TTE and MDCT. Mean LA volume measurement using MDCT was significantly larger than TTE measurement (92 ± 31 mL vs 68 ± 27 mL, p