Introduction:

American guidelines for echocardiographic evaluation from 2015 determine an abnormal TAPSE value below 17 mm; a right ventricle ejection fraction (RVEF) below 45% measured by a three-dimensional method (3D) is considered abnormal, it’s widely validated by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Kawel-Boehm et al, through MRI has established the reference parameters for adults and children. For men between 20-68 years the minimum normal RVEF value is 52% (52-72% range, 61% medium); in women from the same age range the minimum normal RVEF value is 51% (51-71% range, medium 61%).

Objective:

To make a comparison between the RVEF obtained by an echocardiographic method as the result of multiply the 2.9 constant * TAPSE against the MRI´s volumetrically measured RVEF.

Material and methods:

The TAPSE measuring was made in M mode; the MRI RVEF was determined by a standardized method in steady-state free precession cinematic sequences.

Results:

We analyzed 32 consecutives patients; 18 were men and 14 were women. The calculated TAPSE was 19.2 ± 4.8; the RVEF with the 2.9*TAPSE formula was 55.7 ± 13.8% and through MRI (p 0.67) 53.2 ± 14.8%. The RVEF measured by the testing method in comparison with the reference method does not show significant statistically difference; there is a good correlation with both methods through the Bland-Altman method.

Conclusions:

The RVEF can be echocardiographically measured by multiplying the TAPSE value with the 2.9 constant.

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