RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To conduct a preliminary study on the reliability of left ventricle volume filling curve through the commercial medical program Report-Card 4.0. METHODS: A total pf 22 normal volunteers underwent the examination. Images of standard 2-chamber view and short-axis view were acquired at end-expiration by electrocardiography-gated FIESTA CINE sequence. Then one experienced doctor manually contoured the endocardium during end-systole and end-diastole phases respectively, obtained the results of the volume of end-diastole (EDV) and end-systole (ESV), ejection fraction (EF), stroke volume (SV) and cardiac output (CO), processing time and mean processing time per phase. Papillary muscle was not included into left ventricle volume. Another two observers utilized LV ANALYSIS of Report-Card, generated the left ventricle volume filling curve and recorded the processing time and mean processing time per phase. From the curve, EDV, ESV, SV, EF, CO, peak ejecting rate (PER) and peak filling rate (PFR) were also acquired. One observer repeated the procedures a week later. RESULTS: The difference of results from two methods were insignificant (P > 0.05) and the correlation was excellent (EDV 0.963, ESV 0.944). Intra-observer and inter-observer variability for measurements (EDV, ESV) were assessed by Bland-Altman analysis and interclass correlation coefficient (0.985, 0.987, 0.959 and 0.957 respectively). The mean processing time (179 ± 51) s by means of manually contouring was significantly less than the mean processing time (331 ± 99) s through REPORT-CARD 4.0 (P < 0.001). However, the mean processing time per phase (17 ± 5) s by means of REPORT-CARD 4.0 was significantly less than the mean processing time per phase (89 ± 26) s through manually contouring (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The reliability of left ventricle volume filling curve generated through Report-Card is excellent. Left ventricle volume filling curve may be a reliable method of further studying the functions of left ventricle.
