Echocardiographic study of aortic root diameter in healthy children

Objectives:Echocardiography is commonly used to measure the internal diameter of aortic root, which provides the evaluation of aortic root dilatation. Aortic root dilatation provide information concerning prognosis of aortic regurgitation and predisposition to aortic root dissection or rupture. The purpose of the study was to create normal values for aortic root diameters by using echocardiography in healthy children.Methods:We obtained the aortic root diameters in 229 normal children, aged one day to 15 years by using M-mode echocardiography. We performed the echocardiograms from the Department of Pediatric Echocardiography Laboratory, Medical Faculty, Dicle University, Turkey. We divided the children into 6 groups according to their body surface area [BSA]: 0.20-0.25 m2, 0.25-0.50 m2, 0.50-0.75 m2, 0.75-1.0 m2, 1.0-1.25 m2, and 1.25-1.50 m2. We corrected the aortic root diameters for BSA.Results:The aortic root diameters in children were 7.6 mm to 24 mm with a mean value of 14.8 mm. The corrected aortic root diameter for BSA ranged from 10.7 to 40.6 mm/m2 with a mean value of 19.9 mm/m2. Aortic root diameters increased with age, weight and BSA. In contrast, aortic root diameter/BSA values were higher in younger children.Conclusion:The presented aortic root diameters according to the BSA will serve as reference data for echocardiographic evaluation of patients with various cardiac diseases