Echocardiographic evaluation of normal adult left Ventricular geometry in a Nigerian population.

Background: Differences have shown to exist in some echocardiographic measurements that were attributed to racial, ethnic and gender. This study determined echocardiographic baseline data of normal adult left ventricular (LV) geometry in our locality. Methods: The study was performed on 1,192 apparently healthy adults. Participants below the age of 18 years or those with congenital or acquired cardiac abnormalities and history of long-term regular physical training were excluded. Trans-thoracic echocardiography was performed with Vivid T8 GE dedicated echocardiography machine with probe frequency of 1.7 to 3.2 MHz with integrated electrocardiography (ECG) recording electrodes. The study determined normal dimensions of interventricular diamensions. All measurements were indexed to body surface area (BSA) to obtain echocardiographic baseline normal reference values. Results: The mean + SD values of LV parameters for male and female participants were: LVIDd (44.80 ± 5.71 mm vs 42.75 ± 5.21 mm), LVIDs (33.54 ± 5.37 mm vs 30.38 ± 4.81 mm), and LVPWd (8.32 ± 1.26 mm vs 7.51 ± 1.22 mm). Females had more statistically significant interventricular septum in diastole (IVSd) (8.20 ± 1.38 mm vs 7.05 ± 1.27 mm) and interventricular septum in systole (IVSs) (9.08 ± 1.42 mm vs 8.99 ± 1.33 mm) (P < 0.05). Conclusion: This research established echocardiographic baseline normal adult left ventricular geometry in the study population because in order to detect abnormalities, accurate definition of normal values of echocardiographic measurements is of utmost importance for a reliable clinical decision making.