Ultrasonic anisotropy measured in 2-dimensional echocardiograms in vitro and verified by histology.

This study aims to validate ultrasonic anisotropy in 2-dimensional echocardiograms by one-to-one histological correlation. Thirteen echograms were obtained in vitro from 9 specimens of 2 left ventricles of healthy adult beagle dogs and were correlated with corresponding histology in regard to ultrasound orientation relative to the local fiber direction. Median value of pixel echogenicity (255-rank) was lower in areas with parallel (n = 9, 18 ± 13) than in those with oblique (n = 7, 41 ± 14, P < 0.