Diagnostic value of transthoracic echocardiography in children with endocardial fibroelastosis

HUO Yaling; ZHENG Bin; WANG Dan; ZUO Bianjing

Abstract：Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in children with endocar-dial fibroelastosis (EFE). Methods TTE data of 38 children with EFE in our hospital from January 2012 to February 2015 were selected as the observation group and the TTE data of 38 healthy children in the same period were selected as as control group. Then,the characteristics of TTE image were analyzed,focusing on the children's atrioventricular diameter,intima-media thick-ness,heart valvular regurgitation, heart function indexes, and etc. Lastly, TTE examination results were analyzed between the two group. Results In the observation group,the left ventricular system showed the enlargement at different degrees, in which 22 cases exhibited the left ventricular enlargement and 16 cases appeared the left ventricular and left atrial enlargement simultane-ously. Meanwhile,the diffuse wall motion decreased and the left ventricular endocardia showed thickness at different degrees, with thickness larger than 3.5 mm and echo enhancement. The mitral peak A velocity increased, while, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF),left ventricular fractional shortening(FS),stroke volume index(SI) and cardiac index(CI),peak E and E/A ratio were all lower than those in control group,there was significant difference between the two groups( P <0.05). The mi-tral regurgitation appeared at different degree, in which 21 cases were mild,8 cases were moderate, and 9 cases were severe. Conclusion Left ventricular enlargement and left ventricular endocardial thickening are the characteristics of TTE manifestations of EFE,which are important to evaluate the early diagnosis and prognosis of children with EFE.