Intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility of M-mode and B-mode acquired mitral annular plane systolic excursion (MAPSE) and its dependency on echocardiographic image quality in children.

Abstract

Mitral annular plane systolic excursion (MAPSE) is an increasingly used echocardiography technique to assess left ventricular (LV) function. However, reproducibility and dependence on echocardiographic image quality for MAPSE in pediatric patients have not been studied to date.We analyzed 284 transthoracic echocardiograms performed on consecutive normotensive children without structural heart disease (mean age 12.6±3.1 years, 50.4% female). B-mode and M-mode derived MAPSE measurements were performed and analyzed regarding inter- and intraobserver reliability and the influence of echocardiographic image quality.Overall, MAPSE measurements were highly reproducible with only minor bias. Both inter- and intraobserver reliability were significantly better for M-mode derived MAPSE (p0.235). In contrast, B-mode lateral MAPSE was significantly better reproducible in optimal image quality (-0.07±1.04) when compared to suboptimal echocardiographic images (0.42±1.59, p<0.001). Moreover, poor quality images yielded significantly lower M-mode MAPSE values (14.3±2 mm) than near-optimal (15.2±1.9 mm, p<0.001) or optimal images (15.1±2.2 mm, p = 0.006).Echocardiographic image quality essentially has a negligible effect on MAPSE reproducibility and measurements. Consequently, MAPSE is a robust echocardiographic parameter with convincing reproducibility for the assessment of LV function in children-even in patients with substandard imaging conditions.