ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the clinical significance of full volume real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT-3DE) in the assessment of general and local systolic functions of the left ventricle in children with Kawasaki disease (KD).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 73 KD children (40 with and 33 without coronary artery lesions) and 35 healthy control children were recruited. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was measured by M-mode ultrasound and full volume RT-3DE imaging. A left ventricular volume-time curve and a segmental speed-time curve were generated. Differences between control subjects and patients with and without coronary artery lesions were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The M-mode ultrasound measurements of LVEF in KD patients with coronary artery lesions were significantly lower than in KD patients without coronary artery lesions and control children (P<0.05), while there was no significant difference between KD patients without coronary artery lesions and control children. RT-3DE measurements of LVEF were significantly different between the three groups analyzed (P<0.05): coronary artery lesion group < no coronary artery lesion group < control group. RT-3DE-based segmental ventricular wall analysis revealed that Tmsv16-SD and Tmsv12-SD in KD patients with coronary artery lesions were significantly higher than other two groups and Tmsv6-SD was also significantly higher than in the normal control group (P<0.05) and that Tmsv16-SD in KD patients without coronary artery lesions increased significantly compared with the normal control group (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>RT-3DE can be used in the quantitative evaluation of the left ventricular function and therefore has significant clinical implications.</p>