Saranteas and colleagues [1] in the previous issue of Critical Care describes the use of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) for detection of ventricular thrombus in postoperative patients in the critical care unit. While we agree that TTE is a fundamental diagnostic imaging tool that enhances detection of anatomic and physiologic abnormalities within the critical care complex, we would like t...

BACKGROUND Myocardial contrast echocardiography and coronary flow velocity pattern with a rapid diastolic deceleration time after percutaneous coronary intervention has been reported to be useful in assessing microvascular damage in patients with acute myocardial infarction. AIM To evaluate myocardial contrast echocardiography with harmonic power Doppler imaging, coronary flow velocity reserv...

Transthoracic echocardiography has become increasingly popular in clinical practice. It is used for the functional evaluation of patients with various cardiovascular diseases. Its use has been extended further in routine screening for cardiovascular health and in preoperative risk assessment before non-cardiac surgery because it is non-invasive, easy to perform, reproducible, and cost-effective...

BACKGROUND Carcinoid heart disease is a rare form of valvular heart disease. We sought describe the spectrum of carcinoid heart disease identified by echocardiography and cardiac MRI. METHOD AND RESULTS Two hundred fifty-two patients with carcinoid syndrome underwent a range of investigations including 2D transthoracic echocardiography, 3D transthoracic echocardiography and transesophageal ec...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysm to right cardiac chambers is an uncommon lesion in Western countries. The prognosis is usually serious unless the condition is promptly treated surgically. For this reason an accurate anatomical and functional evaluation is necessary. The main purpose of this report is to compare the usefulness of multiplane transesophageal echocar...

Transoesophageal echocardiography identified a pacemaker lead infection in a patient in whom transthoracic echocardiography was negative and there were no specific signs of skin inflammation over the pulse generator.

OBJECTIVE To determine the importance of contrast echocardiography in the diagnosis of intrapulmonary vascular dilations (PVD) in patients with severe hepatic diseases, eligible for transplantation. METHODS Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) with second harmonic imaging was performed in 76 patients, among them 32 patients were consecutively undergone to a transesophageal study (ETE). Echoca...