Technological advances to extend the echocardiographic imaging of pediatric patients

Recent technological advances provide significant improvement in the quality of imaging for the acoustically challenged pediatric patient. Although tissue harmonics allow better imaging of the larger or postoperative patient, high-frequency transducers tend to optimize imaging in smaller patients. Miniaturization of transducers and ultrasound systems has lead to the innovative utilization of previously unavailable acoustic windows in a wider variety of settings. Each improvement advances the technology closer to the goal of providing optimal cardiac imaging in nearly all patients under virtually all circumstances.