[Comparison of tissue harmonic imaging and standard imaging in echocardiography based on 4 different emission...

Harmonic imaging is an innovative technique which is now available in most of the echographic equipment currently on the market. The use of echographic contrast agents led to the introduction of this particular technology, which has largely superseded the former method. In everyday medical practice, it seems to provide a better definition of endocardial contours. In this article, the authors have described a prospective study including 32 patients with an average age of 64 years (+/- 5 years). The aim was to compare imaging quality obtained by 2 acquisition frequencies for standard imaging with that procured by harmonic imaging (emission and reception frequency, 2.5 and 3.3 MHz respectively for the former technique; emission and reception frequency, 1.7 and 2.2 MHz respectively for the latter). The overall scores given by 2 different examiners for emission and reception frequency were as follows: 3.28 and 3.15 for 2.5 MHz, 2.84 and 2.56 for 3.3 MHz regarding the standard technique; 2.56 and 3.031 for 1.7 MHz and 2.56 and 2.063 for 2.2 MHz for the harmonic imaging technique. The superior performance of tissue harmonic imaging has been confirmed in the endocardial study of the left ventricular segments and in the analysis of the mitral valve. This study shows that harmonic imaging, a technique which was easy to use in the present study, provides a means of obtaining an average level of ultrasound imaging that facilitates the interpretation of the clinical picture.