1 of 6 What is and how to do 3 D echocardiography ?

Three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography has a long history with the first 3D-reconstruction of two-dimensional (2D) images in 1974. However, the equipment was impractical and images were unsuitable for clinical use. Over the subsequent decades, several researchers, primarily in biomedical engineering, worked on overcoming technical challenges to make the equipment smaller, yet capable of generating high resolution images from complex transducers. They developed instruments that acquired a series of 2D scans in a linear, fan-like, or rotational manner and consolidated them into a 3D image. However, this was predicated on the assumption that both, the transducer and patient were in a fixed position relative to each other during the acquisition of serial 2D scans. This was the major limitation to the development of real-time 3D imaging. Rotational scanners were then developed, followed by electromagnetic instruments. With improvements in computing power and transducer technology, real-time 3D echocardiography became a reality when Von Ramm and colleagues at Duke University described the acquisition of a complete volume rendition of the heart in a single cardiac cycle.