AUTHOR=Beyls Christophe , Huette Pierre , Vangreveninge Paul , Leviel Florent , Daumin Camille , Ammar BenAmmar , Touati Gilles , Roger Bouzerar , Caus Thierry , Dupont Hervé , Abou-Arab Osama , Momar Diouf , Mahjoub Yazine 

TITLE=Interchangeability of right ventricular longitudinal shortening fraction assessed by transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography in the perioperative setting: A prospective study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2022.1074956

DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2022.1074956

ISSN=2297-055X

ABSTRACT=Background: Conventional transthoracic (TTE) and transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE) parameters assessing right ventricle (RV) systolic function are daily used assuming their clinical interchangeability. RV longitudinal shortening fraction (RV-LSF) is a two-dimensional speckle tracking parameter used to assess RV systolic function. RV-LSF is based on tricuspid annular displacement analysis and could be measured with TTE or TEE. 

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine if RV-LSFTTE and RV-LSFTEE measurements were interchangeable in the perioperative setting.

Methods: Prospective perioperative TTE and TEE echocardiography were performed under general anesthesia during scheduled cardiac surgery in 90 patients. RV-LSF was measured by semi-automatic software. Comparisons were performed using Pearson correlation and Bland-Altman plots. RV-LSF clinical agreement was determined as a range of -5% to 5%. 

Results: Of the 114 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 90 were included. The mean preoperative RV-LSFTTE was 20.4 4.3% and 21.1±4.1% for RV-LSFTEE. The agreement between RV-LSF measurements was excellent, with a bias at -0.61 and limits of agreement of -4.18 to 2.97 %. All measurements fell within the determined clinical agreement interval in the Bland-Altman plot. Linear regression analysis showed a high correlation between RV-LSFTTE and RV-LSFTEE measurement (r=0.9; confidence interval [CI] 95%: [0.87-0.94], p<0.001). 

Conclusion: RV-LSFTTE and RV-LSFTEE measurements are interchangeable, allowing RV-LSF to be a helpful parameter for assessing perioperative changes in RV systolic function.