Sources of Variability in Vena Contracta Area Measurement for Tricuspid Regurgitation Severity Grading: Comparison of Technical Settings and Vendors

Quantification of Mitral Regurgitation in Mitral Valve Prolapse by Three-Dimensional Vena Contracta Area: Derived Cutoff Values and Comparison With Two-Dimensional Multiparametric Approach

BACKGROUND

Echocardiographic grading of mitral regurgitation (MR) in mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is challenging. Three-dimensional (3D) vena contracta area (VCA) has been proposed as a valuable method. However, data defining the cutoff values of severity and validation in the subset of patients with MVP are scarce. The aim of this study was to validate the 3D VCA by 3D color-Doppler transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in patients with MVP and to define the cutoff values of severity grading. The secondary aim was to compare 3D VCA to the effective regurgitant orifice area estimation by proximal isovelocity surface area (EROA-PISA) method.

METHODS

A total of 1,138 patients with at least moderate MR who underwent TEE were included. Three-dimensional VCA was measured, and the cutoff value and area under the curve (AUC) for the prediction of severe MR were estimated by receiver operating characteristic curve using a guideline-suggested multiparametric approach as the reference standard. In a subgroup of patients, 3D regurgitant volume (RV) and 3D fraction were calculated from mitral and left ventricular outflow tract stroke volumes to further validate 3D VCA against a 3D volumetric reference standard.

RESULTS

The optimal 3D VCA cutoff value for predicting severe MR was 0.45 cm2 (specificity, 0.87; sensitivity, 0.90) with an AUC of 0.95 using a multiparametric approach as reference. Three-dimensional VCA had a good linear correlation with EROA-PISA (r = 0.62, P < .05) with larger values compared to EROA-PISA (0.63 cm2 vs 0.44 cm2, P < .05). A cutoff of 0.50 cm2 (AUC of 0.84; sensitivity, 0.78; specificity, 0.78) predicts an EROA-PISA of 0.40 cm2. Three-dimensional VCA had a good linear correlation with 3D RV (r = 0.56, P < .01), with an AUC of 0.86 to predict a 3D fraction >50%.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study suggests 0.45 cm2 as the best cutoff value of 3D VCA to define severe MR in patients with MVP, showing an optimal agreement with the reference standard multiparametric approach and 3D RV.

Tricuspid Regurgitation: From Imaging to Clinical Trials to Resolving the Unmet Need for Treatment

Tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is a highly prevalent and heterogeneous valvular disease, independently associated with excess mortality and high morbidity in all clinical contexts. TR is profoundly undertreated by surgery and is often discovered late in patients presenting with right-sided heart failure. To address the issue of undertreatment and poor clinical outcomes without intervention, numerous structural tricuspid interventional devices have been and are in development, a challenging process due to the unique anatomic and physiological characteristics of the tricuspid valve, and warranting well-designed clinical trials. The path from routine practice TR detection to appropriate TR evaluation, to conduction of clinical trials, to enriched therapeutic possibilities for improving TR access to treatment and outcomes in routine practice is complex. Therefore, this paper summarizes the key points and methods crucial to TR detection, quantitation, categorization, risk-scoring, intervention-monitoring, and outcomes evaluation, particularly of right-sided function, and to clinical trial development and conduct, for both interventional and surgical groups.

Three-dimensional transoesophageal echocardiography: how to use and when to use-a clinical consensus statement from the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging of the European Society of Cardiology

Three-dimensional transoesophageal echocardiography (3D TOE) has been rapidly developed in the last 15 years. Currently, 3D TOE is particularly useful as an additional imaging modality for the cardiac echocardiographers in the echo-lab, for cardiac interventionalists as a tool to guide complex catheter-based procedures cardiac, for surgeons to plan surgical strategies, and for cardiac anaesthesiologists and/or cardiologists, to assess intra-operative results. The authors of this document believe that acquiring 3D data set should become a 'standard part' of the TOE examination. This document provides (i) a basic understanding of the physic of 3D TOE technology which enables the echocardiographer to obtain new skills necessary to acquire, manipulate, and interpret 3D data sets, (ii) a description of valvular pathologies, and (iii) a description of non-valvular pathologies in which 3D TOE has shown to be a diagnostic tool particularly valuable. This document has a new format: instead of figures randomly positioned through the text, it has been organized in tables which include figures. We believe that this arrangement makes easier the lecture by clinical cardiologists and practising echocardiographers.

Interobserver Variation in Echocardiographic Measurements and Grading of Tricuspid Regurgitation Based on a Novel Web-Based Assessment Environment

OBJECTIVES

The primary aim of this study was to assess interobserver variability in grading tricuspid regurgitation (TR) severity. The authors' secondary goals were to delineate which transesophageal echocardiographic (TEE) parameters best correlate with severity and how consistent the participants were at grading severity.

DESIGN

This was a prospective cohort study of how clinicians evaluated previously acquired TEE images and videos.

SETTING

The 19 TEE studies of patients with TR were recorded by 4 senior echocardiographers across 4 US academic institutions. The participants evaluated these cases on a novel, web-based, assessment environment designed specifically for this study.

PARTICIPANTS

Twenty-nine fellowship-trained and board-certified cardiologists and cardiothoracic anesthesiologists volunteered to participate in the study as observers from 19 different institutions.

INTERVENTIONS

No interventions were performed on the participants.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

For each case, participants measured the vena contracta (VC), proximal isovelocity surface area (PISA), and jet area before giving a final classification on the severity of TR. Variation was highest for effective regurgitant orifice area and lowest for VC and PISA. The coefficient of variation, defined as the standard deviation from the mean divided by the mean, for all cases of trace, mild, moderate and severe TR were as follows: Jet Area-111%, 46%, 48%, 76%; VC-67%, 44%, 43%, 36%; PISA-52%, 48%, 31%, 35%; and effective regurgitant orifice area-127%, 95%, 66%, 58%.

CONCLUSIONS

The interobserver variation in quantifying TEE parameters for TR is high, suggesting these may be difficult to measure reliably in a busy perioperative setting. Of the parameters assessed, VC and PISA radius had the highest interobserver agreement and the highest correlation with severity.