Authors’ Reply
We would like to thank Dr Tozzi for his thoughtful letter regarding our report titled “Elevated Left Ventricular Outflow Tract Velocities on Exercise Stress Echocardiography May Be a Normal Physiologic…
Left Ventricular Outflow Tract Velocities—All in Context
I would like to congratulate Wittlieb-Weber et al . on their publication highlighting the variability of left ventricular outflow (LVOT) velocities during exercise in apparently healthy children. Their study also demonstrated…
Authors’ Reply
We appreciate the comments of Cantinotti et al . Since the introduction of Z scores in cardiology, limitations in the use of current pediatric nomograms for the mitral valve and aortic…
Limitations of Current Nomograms in Pediatric Echocardiography: Just the Tip of the Iceberg—A Call for Standardization
We read with interest the article by den Dekker et al . titled “Comparability of Z -Score Equations of Cardiac Structures in Hypoplastic Left Heart Complex,” which was recently published in…
Development and Evaluation of Methodologies for Teaching Focused Cardiac Ultrasound Skills to Medical Students
Background Handheld ultrasound is emerging as an important tool for point-of-care cardiac assessment. Although cardiac ultrasound skills are traditionally introduced during postgraduate training, the optimal time and methodology to initiate…
Etiology and Relevance of the Figure-of-Eight Artifact on Echocardiography after Percutaneous Left Atrial Appendage Closure with the Amplatzer Cardiac Plug
Background The Amplatzer Cardiac Plug (ACP) device, used for percutaneous left atrial appendage closure, frequently presents as an unexplained figure-of-eight on echocardiography. The aim of this study was to clarify…
Right Ventricular Function in Acute Pulmonary Embolism: A Combined Assessment by Three-Dimensional and Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography
Background The aim of this study was to assess changes in right ventricular (RV) parameters determined by three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography and speckle-tracking echocardiography in patients with acute pulmonary embolism and…
Insights into the Evolution of Myocardial Dysfunction in the Functionally Single Right Ventricle between Staged Palliations Using Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography
Background The long-term prognosis of hypoplastic left heart syndrome is limited by progressive right ventricular dysfunction. The aim of this study was to determine the trends in single right ventricular…
Handheld Ultrasound Devices and the Training Conundrum: How to Get to “Seeing Is Believing”
Although the “stethoscope” was developed almost 200 years ago by René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec and is unquestionably the foundation for classical teaching of the diagnostic physical examination, it is also true that…
Analysis of Left Ventricular Volumes and Function: A Multicenter Comparison of Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine Ventriculography, and Unenhanced and Contrast-Enhanced Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Echocardiography
Background Contrast echocardiography improves accuracy and reduces interreader variability on left ventricular (LV) functional analyses in the setting of two-dimensional (2D) echocardiography. The need for contrast imaging using three-dimensional (3D)…
