Assessment of left atrial size by echocardiography

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    To determine discrepancies in leaft atrial size measurement in different disease pathologies

  • IRAS ID

    227142

  • Contact name

    Caroline Coats

  • Contact email

    caroline.coats@nhs.net

  • Sponsor organisation

    Golden Jubilee National Hospital

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 3 months, 29 days

  • Research summary

    The left atrium (LA) is one of the 4 chambers in the heart. An enlarged LA size has been linked to adverse cardiovascular outcome. Therefore, accurate measurement
    is essential in the patients' clinical care.

    There are a several different ways to measure the LA in 2 dimensional echocardiography:
    a) linear measurements (LA diameter)
    b) area measurements
    c) volume measurements.

    Studies have shown that there are discrepancies between the different methods which can be used to measure and categories the LA size. However, the reasons for these discrepancies have not been adequately investigated.

    In this study we will measure LA size by 3 methods in different categories of heart disease (aortic stenosis, mitral regurgitation and heart failure). A similar study has recently been published in healthy subjects and athletes (Ballo et al, Eur Heart J CV Imaging 2016).

    A secondary outcome will be to provide audit data to the department about about compliance with British Society of Echocardiography standards for LA assessment.

  • REC name

    Wales REC 6

  • REC reference

    17/WA/0142

  • Date of REC Opinion

    9 May 2017

  • REC opinion

    Favourable Opinion