Cited 31 times since 1997 (1.2 per year) source: EuropePMC European heart journal, Volume 18, Issue 9, 1 1 1997, Pages 1505-1513 Comparison of echocardiography with magnetic resonance imaging in the assessment of the athlete's heart. Pluim BM, Beyerbacht HP, Chin JC, Zwinderman A, Van der Laarse A, De Roos A, Vliegen HW, Van der Wall EE
Aim
The purpose of the study was to compare the accuracy of M-mode echocardiography and two different two-dimensional echocardiographic approaches in the assessment of left ventricular mass and volumes in endurance-trained and strength-trained athletes, using magnetic resonance imaging as reference standard.
Methods and results
We studied 19 athletes and 10 untrained control subjects, M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography were compared to magnetic resonance imaging. M-mode echocardiographic left ventricular mass was calculated using the Penn cube convention. Two-dimensional echocardiographic left ventricular mass was calculated using (1) the area-length method as proposed by the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) and (2) as proposed by Reichek. The best correlation between magnetic resonance imaging and echocardiographic left ventricular mass and volumes was observed with the ASE two-dimensional echocardiographic method. The agreement between them (-3.4 +/- 7.6 g and 18.5 +/- 19.5 ml) was better than between Reichek two-dimensional echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (-39.4 +/- 15.4-g and 52.8 +/- 21.7 ml), and demonstrated less random difference than M-mode echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (3.2 +/- 21.1 g resp. 15.1 +/- 30.0 ml).
Conclusion
We conclude that the ASE two-dimensional echocardiographic approach, when using magnetic resonance imaging as a reference standard, was the most accurate estimator of left ventricular mass and volumes in both controls and athletes.
