Echocardiographic evaluation of supracardiac anomalous pulmonary venous connection in children: comparison with multilayer spiral CT

Objective To explore the clinical value of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in the differentiation of Supracardiac Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection (SAPVC) in children. Materials and methods A total of 118 children with concurrent TTE and CT databases of cases diagnosed with SAPVCs were included. We analyzed the consistency between the two for the ability to diagnose the classification of SAPVC, drainage sites, ectopic pulmonary veins and the segments of superior vena cava (SVC). Results The consistency between TTE and CT in diagnosing the existence of SAPVC and the classification were 88.1% (95% CI: 80.9-93.4%) and 91.0% (95% CI: 84.1-95.6%), respectively. The error rate of partial type diagnosed by TTE was significantly higher than that of total and mixed type (20.5% vs. 2.8%, P = 0.003). The consistency between TTE and CT to determine drainage sites was 91.9% (95% CI: 85.2-96.2%). TTE had a significantly higher error rate in determining pulmonary vein drainage to the SVC than in those draining into the left innominate vein (17.5 vs. 2.5%, P = 0.007). The consistency of TTE and CT in judging the number of veins was 87.4% (95% CI: 79.7-92.9%). The error rate in determining the presence of 2 and 5 ectopic pulmonary veins was significantly higher than those of 1 and 4 veins (P < 0.05). Conclusion TTE for diagnosing partial SAPVC and identifying the drainage site of SVC has a high error rate of misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis. The extra attention should be given to these factors in clinical practice to improve the accuracy of TTE in diagnosing SAPVC.