100 Challenges in Echocardiography

This book offers both experienced cardiologists and trainees alike the opportunity to identify and address the most common pitfalls encountered with echocardiology in routine clinical practice. The book covers a series of challenges ranging from technical difficulties to problems with echocardiographic interpretation with each section presenting a series of simulations to test the reader's understanding of the problem. The text is written in a highly practical and didactic manner which will help the busy physician by presenting the information in a succinct, 'essentials only' manner. The heavy use of high-quality illustrations serves to ensure that the concepts explained are supported by real-life examples and thus readily applicable to the clinical setting.
Key Features

* Edited by an international expert.
* Abundant use of full-colour allows accurate representation of images to afford detailed discussion of the techniques involved.
* Didactic approach ensures delivery of key information in manageable portions thus saving time for the busy cardiologist.
* Includes the most frequent pitfalls associated with a range of techniques thus ensuring applicability to a variety of clinical settings and equipment availability.

Table of Contents

SECTION 1 – Technical Pitfalls The physical limitations of echocardiography Ultrasound artefacts Patient hypoechogenicity Problems due to adjustments of the machine settings Other technical pitfalls SECTION 2 – Diagnostic Pitfalls Cardiac valves Cardiac walls Cardiac chambers Systolic and diastolic function of the ventricles Pulmonary arterial pressures Thoracic aorta