ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the value of echo‐contrast RT‐3DE for assessment of left ventricular volume and function in patients with left ventricular non‐compaction(LVNC) .Methods Twenty‐one patients of LVNC were involved and underwent non‐enhanced and contrast‐enhanced RT‐3DE to evaluate left ventricular end‐diastolic volume (LVEDV) ,left ventricular end‐systolic volume (LVESV) ,left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) .The endocardial border definition of LV was graded for each of the 16 LV segments as follows :0 = border invisible ,1 = border visualized only partially ,and 2 = complete visualization of the border .Three image‐quality groups (good ,fair ,and uninterpretable) were identified . Results ①Duringcontrast‐enhancedRT‐3DE,ascomparedwithnon‐enhancedRT‐3DE,thenumberof segments with complete visualization of the endocardial border increased significantly (55% vs 82% ,P <0.01) ,and the number of patients with a good‐quality echocardiogram increased significantly (33% vs 81% , P <0.01) .②Contrast‐enhanced RT‐3DE provided significantly larger values of LVEDV ( P < 0 0.1) and LVESV ( P < 0 0.1) as compared with non‐enhanced RT‐3DE ,the values of LVEF were not statistically different between the two techniques ( P =0.07) .③Intra‐and inter‐observer agreement for assessment of LV volumes and systolic function improved during contrast‐enhanced RT‐3DE ,as compared with non‐enhanced RT‐3DE .Conclusions Contrast‐enhanced RT‐3DE can increase the prevalence of good‐quality echocardiograms and significantly improve the reproducibility of LV volumes and function measurements .