Echocardiographic assessment of ventricular function in pediatric patients: a comprehensive guide

Assessment of ventricular function is an important part of every echocardiographic examination. Specific pediatric guidelines on quantification of ventricular function are available, but technology evolves quickly and it generally takes long before newer techniques are integrated into routine clinical practice and are adopted by the guidelines. In the current overview, we would like to present our experience with integrating newer echocardiographic techniques for assessing ventricular function in children using a comprehensive state-of-the-art echocardiographic functional protocol. This protocol is used for specific patient populations such as pediatric patients with cardiomyopathy, post-transplant patients and oncology patients. We present the practical aspects of the protocols, their rationale and how this can be applied in clinical practice.