Volume rendered imaging of three dimensional transesophageal echocardiography with grey values inverted in assessment of morphology of left atrial appendage in patients with atrial fibrillation:a comparison with CT / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To acquire volume rendered images of left atrial appendage ( LAA ) chambers by three dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (3DTEE) using a novel image mode of grey values inverted imaging ( GVI) . Methods Forty patients with atrial fibrillation were performed with TEE and cardiac CT examination before intervention treatment . Three‐dimensional transesophageal echocardiography images were acquired and displayed as a gray values inverted mode . Threshold segmentation and interactive segmentation were used to 3D digital replicas of LAA chambers . Morphology information including morphology type of LAAs and number of lobes and measurements of LAAs were recorded and compared with CT volume reconstruction(CT‐VR) images .Results Morphology information and measurements were successfully acquired by CT and 3DTEE‐GVI images in all 40 cases . The consistence of LAA morphology type by 3D‐GVI and CT was 97 .5% . The consistence of number of LAA lobes by 3D‐GVI and CT was 92 .5% . The measurements of long axis ,short axis ,area of ostiums of LAAs ,and depth of LAAs by CT were larger than those by 3D‐GVI ( P < 0 .01 ) . There were agreements between two methods of measurement . Conclusions LAA chambers can be reconstructed by 3D TEE‐GVI ,which can achieve similar effect to CT‐VR . 3DTEE‐GVI promises to be one of the most effective methods in assessment of LAAs′morphology information for planning of LAA occlusion .