Textbook of real-time three-dimensional echocardiography

Tremendous improvements in ultrasound technology have led to development of one of the most impressive advancements in the use of ultrasound to assess cardiac morphology and function: three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE). During the last decade, 3DE has made a dramatic transition from a predominantly research tool used in few large academic medical centers to a technology available in most echocardiography laboratories, cardiac surgery operating rooms and catheterization and/or electrophysiology labs to address everyday clinical practice and guide interventional procedures. 3DE is now an established technique able to provide intuitive recognition of cardiac structures from any spatial point of view and complete information about absolute heart chamber volumes and function. In particular, 3DE has demonstrated its superiority over current echocardiographic modalities in a number of clinical applications. The Textbook of Real-Time Three Dimensional Echocardiography is intended to provide a comprehensive overview of the normal anatomy of the heart as seen by this new revolutionary ultrasound technique, and focusing on the clinical value of transthoracic 3DE and on the expanding role of transesophageal 3DE in guiding and monitoring surgical and interventional procedures. For echocardiographers who already use 3DE, the more advanced applications of 3DE are presented in detail. For those looking to learn 3DE, the Editors and their contributors have provided hundreds of images and videos in an that show the added clinical value of 3D imaging of cardiac structures. This textbook is therefore written not only for cardiologists specifically involved in the imaging of patients but also for general cardiologists, since it offers a wider clinical view of normal and pathological cardiac anatomy.