Preliminary Results Analysis For Left Ventricular Systolic Function In Normal Fetuses By Automated Cardiac Motion Quantitation

Background: Fetal heart evaluation has been proven to have the utility in the differential diagnosis of cardiomyopathies or prediction of perinatal mortality in congenital heart disease. The purpose of this study is to introduce a novel method that can measure the global and regional longitudinal strain of left ventricle in fetuses, described as automated cardiac motion quantitation (aCMQ). Furthermore, to evaluate the feasibility and value of aCMQ. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 138 fetuses with normal heart structure, then were divided into four groups by gestational age, standard four-chamber view clips were collected, the global and segmental longitudinal peak systolic strain of the left ventricle were measured by aCMQ, interobserver and intraobserver variability was analyzed. Results: The success rate of aCMQ analysis was 90.6% (125/138). aCMQ can obtain more comprehensive data to evaluate fetal cardiac function by on-line analysis, including the left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV, 0.64???0.16?ml), the left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV, 0.85???0.35?ml), strain and so on. There was no significant correlation between the gestational age and the global and segmental longitudinal peak strain of the left ventricle (all p?>?.05). The base and middle segmental strain values of left ventricular free wall were similar to those of the interventricular septum. No significant differences were found in base segments and middle segments for left ventricular free wall (LVLW) and the interventricular septum (IVS) (p?>?.05). The strain of the apex segment was higher than that of the base and middle segment (p?More