Abstract: Objective To investigate the assessment of left ventricular systolic function with automated mitral annular tracking technology, compared with improved Simpson method. Methods The subjects were 80 cases including 47 healthy volunteers and 33 cases of patients with myocardial infarction. End-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO), left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF), stroke volume index (SI) and cardiac output index (CI) were measured with automated mitral annular tracking and modified Simpson method in the apical window at 4-chamber, respectively, and analyzed with correlation statistics. Results The r of EDV, ESV, SV, CO, LVEF, SI and CI measured with automated mitral annular tracking and modified Simpson method in normal subjects were 0.838, 0.917, 0.611, 0.579, 0.648, 0.514 and 0.541,respectively. The r of EDV, ESV, SV, CO, LVEF, SI and CI measured with automated mitral annular tracking and modified Simpson method in myocardial infarction were 0.811, 0.872, 0.797, 0.774, 0.757, 0.708 and 0.754, respectively. No statistical difference exists between the two kinds of measurements. Variation range of each indicator of left ventricular contraction function by the same observer were 1.3%±4.7%. Variation range of each indicator of left ventricular contraction function between observers were 1.8%±5.9%. Conclusion Automated mitral annular tracking has a good correlation with modified Simpson method for assessing left ventricular systolic function. Automated mitral annular tracking method and modified Simpson method have no statistical differences in left ventricular systolic function measurement. It suggests that automated mitral annular tracking method is a simple and accurate method to evaluate left ventricular systolic function.

Key words: automated mitral annular tracking, left ventricular systolic function, myocardial infarction