Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography : official publication of the American Society of Echocardiography
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J Am Soc Echocardiogr · Jun 2013
Review Multicenter StudyEchocardiographic methods, quality review, and measurement accuracy in a randomized multicenter clinical trial of Marfan syndrome.
The Pediatric Heart Network is conducting a large international randomized trial to compare aortic root growth and other cardiovascular outcomes in 608 subjects with Marfan syndrome randomized to receive atenolol or losartan for 3 years. The authors report here the echocardiographic methods and baseline echocardiographic characteristics of the randomized subjects, describe the interobserver agreement of aortic measurements, and identify factors influencing agreement. ⋯ The echocardiographic methodology, training, and quality review process resulted in a robust evaluation of aortic root dimensions, with excellent reproducibility.