Introduction to Echocardiography
Advances in ultrasound technology in the last 30 years have allowed transthoracic echocardiography to become the primary technique for noninvasive assessment of cardiac structure and function in patients with congenital and acquired heart disease. Advance
- PDF / 1,126,677 Bytes
- 13 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 16 Downloads / 243 Views
22
Jamie L. Lohr and Shanthi Sivanandam
Abstract
Advances in ultrasound technology in the last 30 years have allowed transthoracic echocardiography to become the primary technique for noninvasive assessment of cardiac structure and function in patients with congenital and acquired heart disease. Advanced ultrasound techniques, including transesophageal echocardiography and intravascular ultrasound, are widely used and can refine imaging and improve outcomes during invasive cardiac procedures. Better resolution and advanced Doppler techniques have allowed more accurate diagnoses and improved monitoring of pathologic conditions, and provide tools to study embryonic and fetal cardiac development. Finally, ultrasound technologies play an important role in cardiovascular research as well and are currently applied to research in physiology, molecular biology, vascular and cardiac regeneration, and stem cell therapies. Keywords
Echocardiography • Cardiac ultrasound • Cardiac development • Fetal echocardiography • Doppler • Ejection fraction • Cardiac function
22.1 Introduction The use of ultrasound to provide noninvasive evaluation of cardiac structure and function was a revolutionary advancement in cardiac care in the late twentieth century [1]. Development of the field of echocardiography has allowed detailed serial examinations of the development, structure, J.L. Lohr, MD (*) Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, University of Minnesota, 2450 Riverside Avenue, MB 560, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA Pediatric Cardiology, University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, East Building MB560, 2450 Riverside Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA e-mail: [email protected] S. Sivanandam, MD Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, University of Minnesota, 2450 Riverside Avenue, MB 560, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA
and function of the human heart both in normal physiologic states and in pathologic conditions Echocardiography has increased the diagnostic accuracy of noninvasive cardiac evaluation and provides a tool for the monitoring of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The goals of this chapter are to: (1) provide the reader with a brief overview of the types of echocardiography in clinical use today; (2) review the physical principles that underlie this clinical tool; and (3) demonstrate how echocardiography can be used to assess cardiac structure and function. Prior to the 1970s, diagnosis of congenital and acquired heart disease was achieved by the combination of physical examination, electrocardiography (ECG), and invasive cardiac catheterization. Unfortunately, clinical examination and ECG are often not very specific diagnostic tools. Cardiac catheterization can augment clinical information, but can be a stressful and risky procedure, particularly in the young or very ill patient. Noninvasive imaging, including echocardiography, CT, and MRI, has become the mainstay of cardiac anatomic and functional diagnoses in congenital heart disease.
© Springer International Publishing Switzerla
Data Loading...
