[The status of echocardiography imaging]

After several decades of gradual technical improvement of echocardiographic imaging, these methods have now attained a level of performance that is not so much dictated by technical limitations as it is determined by constraints imposed by the underlying physical principles. Image quality of echocardiographic imagers is discussed in terms of the spatial, temporal, and graylevel resolution provided. The level of technical performance obtained recently improves essentially the clinical value of echocardiography. Application of contrast material requires new techniques of image display such as color superposition imaging. Image quality in Doppler or color flow imaging is essentially described in terms of spatial, temporal, and velocity resolution. Phantom studies are proposed for routine testing of the image quality provided by clinical echocardiographic instruments. We mention some expected developments concerning archival image storage and the integration of echocardiograms into cardiological databases or complete departmental information systems.