Determination of Left Ventricular Volumes by Ultrasound

We compared dimensions of the left ventricular minor axis (S) measured at enddiastole (S D ) and end-systole (S S ) by echocardiography with dimensions and left ventricular volumes measured by biplane angiocardiography in 27 patients with diverse cardiac abnormalities. There were high correlations between echographic and angiographic ventricular minor-axis dimensions (r = 0.85 for S D and 0.87 for S S ), between echographic dimensions and ventricular volumes (r = 0.84 for end-systolic volume ESV and S S , 0.83 for end-diastolic volume EDV and S D ), and between the relative change in the echographic minor axis with systole (% Δ S) and ejection fraction (r = 0.79). Regression formulae were derived from these relationships which allowed calculation of ventricular volumes from echo dimensions alone: ESV = 47 S D —120, EDV = 59 S D —153. These equations allowed relatively accurate prediction of volumes over a wide range of ventricular sizes. The use of a cube function of the echographic minor axis was an accurate predictor of volumes only in smaller ventricular chambers, but overestimated volumes in larger hearts.