Echocardiography Techniques III Exam 1 Practice

Three-dimensional LV quantification hinges on the integrity of the acquired dataset. When image quality is poor, endocardial borders are hard to delineate, so automated or semi-automated border detection becomes unreliable and the resulting volumes and ejection fraction can be biased. In many 3D acquisitions, multiple subvolumes are stitched together to form a full-volume dataset; respiration instability or irregular breathing can cause misalignment between these subvolumes, leading to stitching artifacts that distort the LV contour and accuracy. While 3D can offer advantages, it is not free from limitations and results depend on image quality, acquisition technique, and the software algorithms used. Thus, the statement that poor image quality and respiration instability degrade accuracy correctly captures the main limitation of 3D LV quantification.