OBJECTIVES: To compare the cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) Body surface area (BSA)-indexed values of left and right ventricular volumes obtained in adults with those of children aged 8-12yrs.
BACKGROUND: CMRI is increasingly recognised as the reference standard for the non-invasive assessment of ventricular size and function. While normal values have been established in an adult population, there is a paucity of published values in children. To our knowledge, no study has been undertaken to determine if values obtained in an adult population can be reliably extrapolated to children.
METHODS: Normal values and ranges of left and right ventricular function were established in adults (50 males (age range 19-60; mean 38) and 50 females (age range 18-59; mean 40)) and children (44 boys (age range 8.0-12.1; mean 9.9) and 45 girls (age range 8.2-12.0; mean 9.6)). CMRI imaging was performed on a 1.5T GE Twinspeed without sedation using ECG-gating and suspended respiration. Steady state free precession cine MR images were acquired and analysis was performed off-line using Mass Analysis software. Left and right ventricular end-diastolic volumes (EDV), end-systolic volumes (ESV) were obtained. Results were indexed to (BSA).
RESULTS: RVEDVi women 113ml/m2 girls 101mls/m2 difference of 12mls (10.6%). Men 131ml/m2 boys 124ml/m2 difference of 7mls (5.3%). RVESVi women 54ml/m2 girls 46ml/m2 difference 8ml (14%), Males 72ml/m2 and boys 61ml/m2 difference of 11ml (15%).
CONCLUSION: There is significant difference in RVEDVi between women and girls and RVEDVi and RVESVi between men and boys.