Pediatric Reference Curves of Cardiac Parameters

Abstract

In pediatric cardiology, the examination of cardiac parameters, such as the left ventricular volume and the stroke work, is essential to diagnose and treat patients with congenital heart disease. Pediatric standard values of cardiac parameters, which serve as a reference for examinations, are however scarce. The objective of this thesis is to determine pediatric reference curves of cardiac parameters by using a total of 497 healthy children’s clinical data and mathematical modeling. This thesis contains three published studies, which provide computed and measured values of cardiac parameters. The first study estimates the left ventricular stroke work (SW) based on a data set of 340 healthy children and modeled pressure-volume loops from a lumped parameter model (LPM). As such, an LPM developed by Pironet et al. was extended by fitting it to the measured volumetric data. In the second study, pediatric reference curves were established for left atrial (LA) volumes based on the 3D echocardiography data of 432 healthy children. In the third study, reference curves were established for left ventricular (LV) volumes based on the data of 370 healthy children. The mentioned reference curves provide standard values of SW, LA volume, and LV volume for age, weight, and height of children.