Estimation of Systolic and Diastolic Left Ventricular Blood Flow From Derivatives of Transesophageal Echocardiographic 3D Volume Curves in Cardiac Surgery Patients: A Proof-of-Concept Study.

Objectives: To examine whether estimates of peak global systolic (S') and diastolic (E') left ventricular (LV) flow rates based on 3D echocardiographic volumes are feasible and match physiology.

Methods: In this retrospective feasibility study, we included patients undergoing major cardiac surgery. S' and E' were derived from 190 patients by taking the first derivative of the volume-time relationship of 3D ecg-gated transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) images.