Circulation, Vol 73, 622-627, Copyright © 1986 by American Heart Association
AM Carceller, JC Fouron, JF Smallhorn, JL Cloez, NH van Doesburg, P Mauran, G Ducharme, C Pernot and A Davignon
Fifty-one patients with uncomplicated transposition of the great arteries
(TGA) and normal pulmonary pressure who were 10 to 20 years old and 69
normal subjects matched for age were studied by M mode echocardiography.
Left ventricular internal dimensions and posterior wall thickness showed
positive correlation with the body surface area in the TGA as well as in
the control groups. Values for these parameters in the TGA group were
generally smaller than those in the normal population. Septal thickness of
patients with TGA (5.9 +/- 1 mm) was also smaller than that in the control
group (6.6 +/- 1 mm) (p less than .01). Septal motion was normal in 11
patients with TGA and paradoxical in 19 patients in this group. In the
other 21 patients the septum was flat. The following systolic time
intervals of the left ventricle were found for patients with TGA:
preejection period (PEP) 64 +/- 11 msec, ejection time (ET) 310 +/- 37
msec, and PEP/ET 0.21 +/- 0.04. These values were significantly different
from those of the right ventricle for the normal population: PEP 77 +/- 12
(p less than .01), ET 327 +/- 25 (p less than .05), and PEP/ET 0.24 +/-
0.03 (p less than .01). Shortening fraction and mean velocity of
circumferential fiber shortening (49 +/- 7% and 1.6 +/- 0.3 circ/sec,
respectively) were also significantly higher (p less than .01) in patients
with TGA than in the control group (33 +/- 4% and 1.1 +/- 0.2 circ/sec).
These data should help achieve reliable quantitative and qualitative
interpretations of echocardiograms of patients with TGA.
ARTICLES
Wall thickness, cavity dimensions, and myocardial contractility of the left ventricle in patients with simple transposition of the great arteries. A multicenter study of patients from 10 to 20 years of age