Abstract
Objectives
To assess the influence of frame rate settings on longitudinal strain (LS) and mechanical synchrony (SYN) values in Speckle Tracking Echocardiography (STE) of healthy fetuses.
Methods
In this prospective study, we collected transversal or apical four-chamber-views of 121 healthy fetuses between 20 and 38 weeks of gestation using three different frame rate (FR) settings (≥ 110, 100 ± 10, 60 ± 10 frames per second). We assessed the segmental and the global LS of both ventricles (2C) and of the left ventricle (LV) offline with QLab 10.8 (Philips Medical Systems, Andover, MA, USA). Inter- and intraventricular SYN were calculated as time difference in peak myocardial strain between the mid-segments of left and right ventricle (interventricular, 2C_Syn) and lateral wall and septum of the left ventricle (intraventricular, LV_Syn), respectively.
Results
In 84.3% STE was feasible at all three FR settings. The LS increased in both views at higher FRs to a statistically noticeable extent. SYN measurements and the absolute differences at patient level between the FR settings showed no statistically noticeable alterations.
Conclusions
STE is feasible at low and high FR settings. SYN emerges to be a robust parameter for fetal STE as it is less affected by the FR. High FRs enable high temporal resolutions and thus an accurate examination of fetal hearts. Future research for the technical implementation of tailored fetal STE software is necessary for reliable clinical application.
Acknowledgments
We thank everyone who voluntarily dedicated his or her time and effort.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Author contribution: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Conflict of interest: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Ethics approval: All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional review board of the authors’ department and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.
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