Teaching Old Tricks to New Dogs
According to an old proverb, supposedly articulated in the 17 th century, but perhaps used first (although phrased differently) more than a hundred years earlier, “An old dog will learn…
Sequential Changes of Longitudinal and Radial Myocardial Deformation Indices in the Healthy Neonate Heart
Background Significant hemodynamic changes, including preload and afterload modifications, occur during the transition from the fetal to the neonatal environment. The ductus arteriosus closes, pulmonary vascular resistance decreases, and pulmonary…
Ventricular Rotation Is Independent of Cardiac Looping: A Study in Mice With Situs Inversus Totalis Using Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography
Background The authors conducted an ultrasound interrogation of a mutant mouse model with a Dnah5 mutation to determine whether cardiac mechanics may be affected by reversal of cardiac situs. This…
Anomalies Associated With a Prominent Azygos Vein on Echocardiography in the Pediatric Population
Background Prominent azygos veins (PAVs) have been described with interrupted inferior venae cavae (IVCs) with heterotaxy. At the authors’ institution, cases of PAVs with uninterrupted IVCs have been noted. The…
Reliability of Visual Assessment of Global and Segmental Left Ventricular Function: A Multicenter Study by the Israeli Echocardiography Research Group
Background The purpose of this multicenter study was to determine the reliability of visual assessments of segmental wall motion (WM) abnormalities and global left ventricular function among highly experienced echocardiographers…
Application of the Appropriateness Criteria for Echocardiography in an Academic Medical Center
Background The authors examined the feasibility of application of the American College of Cardiology Foundation’s appropriateness criteria for transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) at a large tertiary care…
The Relative Atrial Index (RAI)—A Novel, Simple, Reliable, and Robust Transthoracic Echocardiographic Indicator of Atrial Defects
Background The detection of atrial septal defects (ASDs) and other shunts is sometimes difficult on transthoracic echocardiography. In addition, the quantitative assessment of right-heart volume loading as an indicator of…
Visual Assessment of Left Ventricular Function in the Era of High Definition: The Machine and the Eye of the Beholder
To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future. —Plutarch (Greek historian and…
Role of M-mode Technique in Today’s Echocardiography
M-mode echocardiography is considered to be obsolete by many. The technique rarely is included in American Society of Echocardiography standards documents, except for M-mode measurements, which have limited value. The…
Echocardiographic Indexes for the Non-Invasive Evaluation of Pulmonary Hemodynamics
Ultrasound imaging has continuously developed over recent years, leading to the development of several novel echocardiographic indexes. Among these, of particular interest are those that focus on pulmonary hemodynamics, because…
