Original Articles
Left ventricular wall motion velocities in healthy children measured by pulsed wave Doppler tissue echocardiography: Normal values and relation to age and heart rate*,**

https://doi.org/10.1067/mje.2000.108131Get rights and content

Abstract

Left ventricular wall motion velocities were measured by pulsed wave Doppler tissue (PWDT) echocardiography in 131 healthy children (mean age 7.5 ± 5.5 years) at the interventricular septum and the posterior wall in the left ventricular short-axis view, and at the interventricular septum and the lateral wall in the 4-chamber view. The systolic wave (Sw) consisted of 2 components, and the difference between the 2 components was greater in the lateral wall than in the other walls. The peak early diastolic wave (Ew) velocity was also highest in the lateral wall. Most variables during systole correlated with age. The ratio of peak atrial systolic wave (Aw) velocity to peak Ew velocity (Aw/Ew) correlated with heart rate. The Aw/Ew in each wall correlated with the ratio of late (A) to early (E) peak mitral flow, although regression slopes differed among different wall segments. In younger children with increased heart rates, the Aw/Ew ratio increased because the Ew velocity decreased, although the A/E ratio increased because of an increased A velocity. Normal values for the PWDT variables change with heart rate and age in the pediatric population. The data reported in this study can be used as normal values for left ventricular function for PWDT echocardiography. (J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2000;13:1002-11.)

Section snippets

Study population

The study group consisted of 131 healthy children (69 boys and 62 girls). All subjects were volunteers with no history of heart disease. Their ages ranged between 2 months and 19 years (mean age 7.5 ± 5.5 years). None of the subjects had clinical or echocardiographic evidence of structural or functional heart disease. Parents of the subjects received an explanation of the study and gave informed consent.

Echocardiographic study

The echocardiographic examination was performed with the subject in the left lateral

Velocities in 4 walls

Mean peak velocities for all 4 ventricular walls are summarized in Table 1.

. Pulsed wave Doppler tissue velocities in 4 ventricular wall segments

SegmentMean ± SDRangen
SHORT-AXIS VIEW
Interventricular septum
 Sw (cm/s)4.5 ± 1.12.0-7.7131
 Ew (cm/s)7.0 ± 1.83.1-12.9127
 Aw* (cm/s)
 Aw/Ew*
Left ventricular posterior wall
 S1w (cm/s)5.1 ± 1.32.7-9.0131
 S2w (cm/s)5.1 ± 1.12.9-8.1131
 Ew (cm/s)13.6 ± 3.57.2-22.2131
 Aw (cm/s)3.7 ± 1.12.1-7.0127
 Aw/Ew0.29 ± 0.120.11-0.75127
FOUR-CHAMBER VIEW
Interventricular septum
 

Heterogeneity of wall motion velocities between the interventricular septum and the lateral (or posterior) wall

In healthy children, the fundamental components (Sw or S1w and S2w; Ew; and Aw) of left ventricular wall motion velocity based on PWDT are similar to the values in the adult population.1, 2, 3

It is well known that heterogeneity of PWDT patterns exists between different segments of the left ventricular walls.3, 10 On the basis of longitudinal wall motion analysis in the apical view, Galiuto et al 10 reported that myocardial velocity was lower in the septum, with a significant basal-to-apical

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*

Reprint requests: Kazuhiro Mori, MD, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Tokushima, 3-18-15 Kuramotocho, Tokushima-city, Tokushima, 770-8503, Japan.

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J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2000;13:1002-11.

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