The measurement of systolic time intervals by echocardiography

Abstract

A study was performed in which the systolic time intervals of 46 patients were measured directly from echocardiograms of their aortic valve motion. These intervals were compared with those obtained from the same patients by the conventional technique of simultaneously recording the carotid pulse, phonocardiogram and electrocardiogram. Several of the measurements were made simultaneously by the two techniques in order to compare the timing of the systolic cycle. The values obtained by the two techniques were in close agreement, with average deviations of 11% or less. This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring systolic time intervals directly from echocardiograms.