International Journal of Clinical Research

Objective To investigate the feasibility and clinical application value of real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT-3D-TEE) in diagnosing cardiac valvular disease. Methods A total of 204 suspected cardiac valve disease patients at Panzhihua Central Hospital from July 2021 to October 2024 were selected. Both RT-3D-TEE and transient Tissue Echocardiography (TTE) were used to detect the location, type, and severity of valvular lesions, while measuring annular diameter and opening area. Surgical outcomes were used as the gold standard to compare diagnostic efficacy between the two techniques. Results RT-3D-TEE demonstrated significantly higher accuracy than TTE in identifying valve lesion types, severity, and annular diameter measurements (P<0.05), with no statistically significant difference compared to surgical diagnoses (P>0.05). Specifically, RT-3D-TEE achieved 94.8%,93.4%, and 94% diagnostic accuracy for mitral, aortic, and tricuspid valve lesions respectively, surpassing TTE's 80.9%,84.9%, and 72% accuracy. The measured annular diameters for these valves were 23.13±1.85mm, 35.99±1.37mm, 35.82±1.14mm, showing no statistically significant difference from intraoperative values (23.17±1.77mm, 36.04±1.41mm, 35.86±1.01mm), while TTE measurements were significantly smaller than intraoperative values (P<0.05). Conclusion RT-3D-TEE provides high diagnostic accuracy for cardiac valvular disease, offering reliable evidence for precise clinical diagnosis and treatment planning, thus demonstrating significant clinical value.

Real-time three-dimensional echocardiography; Two-dimensional echocardiography; Valvular heart disease; Diagnostic accuracy