The Clinical Benefits of Adding a Third Dimension to Assess the Left Ventricle with Echocardiography

Figure 12

The full-volume of the left ventricle can be divided into 16 or 17 regional pyramidal subvolumes whose base is on the endocardium (different colours identify different segments) and the apex is in the center of gravity within the cavity of the left ventricle. The volume changes of individual regional pyramidal subvolume can be tracked throughout the cardiac cycle (see the time-volume curves in the lower part of the figure) and a “regional ejection fraction” can be measured.