IN THE PRECEDING ARTICLE in this issue of Circulation, Wann et al. compare features of M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography as used in patients with infective endocarditis. Their discussion should arouse curiosity about the implied conflict between M-mode and the newer, two-dimensional approach for general ultrasonic imaging of the heart. M-mode echocardiography has well-known capabiliti...

A group of 111 patients with mitral valve disease was studied by M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography. Five left atrial thrombi were demonstrated, two of which had probably been the source of previous embolic events. Two-dimensional echocardiography was superior to M-mode in providing spatial orientation. Using multiple cross-sections the exact localisation and the size of the thrombus f...

We analyzed the echocardiograms of 28 patients with a left atrial myxoma and two with a right atrial myxoma. Our purpose was to evaluate the value of echocardiography for the diagnosis of these cardiac masses. Only 59% of the m-mode echocardiograms in patients with a left atrial myxoma showed the characteristic findings of multiple diastolic echoes within the mitral orifice as well as abnormal ...