Impact of experience on visual and Simpson's biplane echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction.

Background: In clinical routine, health care professionals with various levels of experience assess left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) by echocardiography. The aim was to investigate to what extent visual and Simpson's biplane assessment of LVEF, using two-dimensional (2D) transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), is affected by the evaluator's experience.

Methods: Ultrasound images of 140 patients were assessed, visually and with Simpson's biplane method, by six evaluators divided into three groups based on echocardiographic experience level (beginner, intermediate and expert).