Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging reference values of biventricular structural and functional parameters for children aged 0–18 years

Objectives Cardiac MRI plays a pivotal role in the diagnosis and treatment of children with heart disease; however, normative data for the healthy Chinese pediatric population are lacking. This study aimed to establish a database of cardiac biventricular structural and functional reference values by using cardiac MRI in a healthy Chinese pediatric population. Materials & methods Healthy Chinese pediatric participants were enrolled (median age, 10 years; range: 0.25–18years) at a single center. Cardiac magnetic resonance examinations were performed using the steady-state free precession sequence to assess cardiac chamber size and ventricular function. Age-related reference curves were constructed using the lambda mu sigma method. Results We report biventricular volumes and masses across stratified age groups. Values for the left ventricular long diameter, right atrial anteroposterior diameter, left ventricular free wall thickness, left ventricular mass, right ventricular end-diastolic volume, right ventricular stroke volume, and the right ventricular end-systolic volume index were significantly higher in boys than in girls in the global cohort, and the last four were also higher in the 6–12 age group. The age groups had statistically comparable biventricular ejection fractions. Biventricular functional reference values showed no sex differences in the 0–6 and 12–18 age groups. Conclusion This study revealed sex-specific differences in biventricular function, mass, and size in a healthy Chinese pediatric population. Percentiles of ventricular volume, mass, and size can serve as reference data during follow-up and for diagnosing cardiac disease in pediatric patients.