title: The failing heart under stress: echocardiography is an essential monitoring tool in the intensive care unit.
abstract: Echocardiography has been evolving to play a pivotal role in hemodynamic management, both intraoperatively and at the bedside. A full assessment of hemodynamics necessitates the use of all of the options available on modern echocardiographs. This introductory review provides insight into three important issues of hemodynamic monitoring by echocardiography: evaluation of preloading conditions, assessment of systolic function, and contractility and estimation of afterload. Mastering these three features will help in a minimally invasive approach of hemodynamic instability.
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Anesthesia and Postoperative Cardiac Surgical ICU, University Hospital Ghent, Belgium. jan.poelaert@ugent.be
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Poelaert
mesh_terms: D004452:Echocardiography; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000187:drug effects; D013312:Stress, Physiological