3DE Color Doppler Acquisition and Optimization and 3DE Artifacts, Caveats, and Pitfalls

Abstract

3D color flow Doppler (CFD) has emerged as an indispensable tool for the diagnosis and assessment of a spectrum of valvular heart diseases and for better appreciation of the mechanism(s) of regurgitant lesions. And, because with 3D echocardiography (3DE), the geometric assumptions that limit the use of 2D echocardiography (2DE) for quantitative purposes do not apply, 3D CFD using muliplanar reconstruction allows for measurement of regurgitant lesion severity by direct planimetry of the regurgitant jet vena contracta area which corresponds to the anatomical effective regurgitant orifice area. A clear appreciation of how best to acquire a 3D CFD data set including optimal use of color filter when available is therefore, key to appropriate use of 3D CFD. 3D echocardiography (3DE) is subject to the same types of artifacts encountered on 2DE. Additionally, there are artifacts that are unique to 3DE.