Echocardiographic reporting system and deriving normal clinical valves using a general purpose database application on a personal computer in an institutional setting

We were able to manage routine echocardiographic reporting as well as a larger analytical database in the echocardiographic laboratory using a personal computer (PC) and a commercially available database application. Here we describe our experience in preparing database-derived echocardiogram reports and evaluating database-derived normal values of two-dimensional (2D) and Doppler echocardiographic variables in relation to age, sex, and physical condition. The 3741 subjects included 1901 males and 1841 females who had undergone screening echocardiography at this institution between July 1996 and December 1998 and were regarded as normal. Interventricular septum thickness, left ventricule end-diastolic dimension, aortic dimension, and left atrial dimension, all measured using 2D ehocardiograms, showed both age- and sex-related differences. Left ventricular ejection fraction showed neither of these differences. No Doppler-derived transmitral E/A ratio (E/A) variable showed a sex-related difference. E/A correlated negatively with age, while deceleration time correlated positively with age. Aortic velocity and pulmonary artery velocity showed no association with age. Age-related increase in frequency of valvular regurgitation, revealed by data acquired by color Doppler echocardiography, was most remarkable in aortic regurgitation. These results agree closely with previous reports, although our clinically normal subjects were not rigorously confirmed. A database-derived echo reporting system like the one used here could prove valuable for both clinical use and for normal value evaluations at medical institutions.