Does blood speckle tracking echocardiography reveal differences in right ventricular energy loss among children with ASDs, rTOF, and healthy controls?
Blood speckle tracking echocardiography identifies increased right ventricular diastolic energy loss and distinct flow patterns in children with dilated right ventricles due to ASD or rTOF compared to healthy controls.
Using blood speckle tracking (BST) based on high-frame-rate echocardiography (HFRE), we compared right ventricle (RV) flow dynamics in children with atrial septal defects (ASDs) and repaired tetralogy of Fallot (rTOF). Fifty-seven children with rTOF with severe pulmonary insufficiency (PI) (n = 21), large ASDs (n = 11) and healthy controls (CTL, n = 25) were included. Using a flow phantom, we studied the effects of imaging plane and smoothing parameters on 2-D energy loss (EL). RV diastolic EL was similar in ASD and rTOF, but both were greater than in CTL. Locations of high EL were similar in all groups in systole, occurring in the RV outflow tract and around the tricuspid valve leaflets in early diastole. An additional apical early diastolic area of EL was noted in rTOF, corresponding to colliding tricuspid inflow and PI. The flow phantom revealed that EL varied with imaging plane and smoothing settings but that the EL trend was preserved if kept consistent.
Mawad et al. (Sun,) studied this question.