[Clinical practice guidelines of the Spanish Society of Cardiology on echocardiography]

Doppler echocardiography has become the technique of choice for the diagnosis and follow-up of most heart diseases its main advantages are that it is non-invasive, easy to use, readily available, rapid and has a high cost-benefict ratio. Multiple studies have demonstrated the accuracy of the technique in the diagnosis and severity quantification of the severity of different diseases. Nevertheless, its main limitation lies in the fact that results are operator dependent, and therefore correct training of the echocardiographer is mandatory. In addition, adequate infrastructure and appropriate equipment are a required guarantee quality of the study. Finally, the technique should be used for the indications, in which beneficial information can be yielded. The aim of the present article was to define and update these considerations to enhance the usefulness of echocardiography in clinical practice.