• Laura Mercer-Rosa, Aimee Parnell, Paul R Forfia, Wei Yang, Elizabeth Goldmuntz, and Steven M Kawut.
• Division of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Penn Cardiovascular Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: mercerrosal@email.chop.edu.
• J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 2013 Nov 1;26(11):1322-9.

BackgroundAssessing right ventricular (RV) performance is essential for patients with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) against cardiac magnetic resonance imaging measures and cardiopulmonary exercise testing.MethodsA retrospective study was performed in 125 outpatients with repaired TOF with available protocol-driven echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, and exercise stress testing obtained as part of a cross-sectional study. TAPSE was measured on the two-dimensional apical four-chamber view on echocardiography by two readers. Multivariate linear regression was used to examine the association between TAPSE and measures of RV function and exercise capacity.ResultsThe mean age was 12.6 ± 3.3 years, 41 patients (33%) were female, and 104 (83%) were white. TAPSE averaged 1.6 ± 0.37 cm, with an interreader intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.78 (n = 18). TAPSE was significantly associated with cardiac magnetic resonance-based RV stroke volume after adjustment for gender and body surface area (β = 13.8; 95% confidence interval, 2.25-25.30; P = .02). TAPSE was not associated with cardiac magnetic resonance-based RV ejection fraction (P = .77). On exercise testing, TAPSE was not associated with peak oxygen consumption, percentage of predicted oxygen consumption, oxygen pulse, or the ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide in patients with maximal exercise stress testing (n = 73 [58%]).ConclusionsTAPSE is reproducibly measured by echocardiography in patients with TOF. It is not associated with RV ejection fraction or exercise performance, and its association with RV stroke volume may be confounded by body size. On the basis of these results, TAPSE is not representative of global RV performance in patients with TOF.Copyright © 2013 American Society of Echocardiography. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

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