A systematic approach to 3D echocardiographic assessment of the aortic root

Abstract

3D-echocardiography should be established in clinical routine to evaluate patients for AV repair and AV-sparing surgery. It is obvious that 3D-transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography has additional value in characterizing AV and aortic root abnormalities if the image quality of the 3D data sets is sufficient. The assessment of cusp morphology and function can be best performed by CL, eH and gH, which is possible for all cusps using 3D-echocardiography. Moreover, misleading measurements due to non-standardized, oblique sectional planes can be avoided by 3D-echocardiography. Thus, 3D-echocardiography should be mandatory for the analysis of AV and aortic root dimensions as well as the grading of AR severity. However, sufficient training and experience is required before it can be applied in clinical routine.