title: Echocardiographic assessment of myocardial ischemia.
abstract: Over the last 60 years, echocardiography has emerged as a dominant and indispensable technique for the detection and assessment of coronary heart disease (CHD). In this review, we will describe and discuss this powerful tool of cardiology, especially in the hands of an experienced user, with a focus on myocardial ischemia. Technical development is still on-going, and various new ultrasound techniques have been established in the field of echocardiography in the last several years, including tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), contrast echocardiography, three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE), and speckle tracking echocardiography (i.e., strain/strain rate-echocardiography). High-end equipment with harmonic imaging, high frame rates and the opportunity to adjust mechanical indices has improved imaging quality. Like all new techniques, these techniques must first be subjected to comprehensive scientific assessment, and appropriate training that accounts for physical and physiological limits should be provided. These limits will constantly be redefined as echocardiographic techniques continue to change, which will present new challenges for the further development of ultrasound technology.
authors: Faculty of Health, School of Medicine, University Witten/Herdecke, Hagen, Germany ;
authors: Roman
authors: R
authors: Leischik
authors: Faculty of Health, School of Medicine, University Witten/Herdecke, Hagen, Germany ;
authors: Birgit
authors: B
authors: Dworrak
authors: Research Institute Hospital 12 de Octubre ("i+12"), Madrid, Spain ;
authors: Fabian
authors: F
authors: Sanchis-Gomar
authors: Research Institute Hospital 12 de Octubre ("i+12"), Madrid, Spain;; European University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain;
authors: Alejandro
authors: A
authors: Lucia
authors: Clinic of Cardiology, Klinikum Westfalen, Dortmund, Germany ;
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Buck
authors: Institute of Medical Informatics, Biometry, Epidemiology, University Clinic Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors: Raimund
authors: R
authors: Erbel
keywords: Echocardiography; coronary heart disease (CHD); myocardial infarction; stress echocardiography (SE)