A study on normal reference values of echocardiographic chamber
dimensions in new born infants from eastern India- a pilot study
Abstract
Introduction: Echocardiography has been an integral part of neonatal
care since the 1990s and application of this technology is increasing
ever since. It is already known that differences in weight, age and race
significantly affect the normal heart dimensions. Therefore,
establishing the normative values for cardiac dimensions among Indian
healthy newborn infants is of paramount importance. In this study we
report the normal reference values of echocardiographic chamber
dimensions of newborn infants from eastern India. Methods: 100 healthy
newborn infants were included in this cross-sectional, observational,
single hospital-based pilot study. A single experienced cardiologist
performed the trans-thoracic echocardiographic studies on the subjects
in supine position in their respective bassinets. No sedation was used.
The parameters were distributed according to body weight and in
percentiles. Results: Subjects were categorized according to their body
weight into three groups: 2-2.4 kg, 2.5-2.9 kg and 3-3.5 kg. Each group
comprises of 7, 50 and 43 newborns respectively. Left ventricular
end-diastolic dimension and left ventricular end-systolic dimension
showed incremental trends across body weight. Conclusion: This study
shows the difference of cardiac dimensions in Indian newborn infants
from western data. This is the first study presenting the normative
reference ranges and percentiles of echocardiographic parameters in
Indian newborn infants which needs confirmation with larger multicenter
studies.