Echocardiography: an overview

In the past 25 to 30 years echocardiography has become a basic examination in clinical cardiology. Thus, it is becoming increasingly necessary for clinicians to be able to utilize it intelligently. Like all medical procedures echocardiography has advantages and limitations, and physicians need to know both. Some of the limitations are being minimized with advances in examination techniques and instrumentation, but many still exist. One limitation is that the ability to satisfactorily educate and train persons in the various ultrasonic techniques has not kept pace with the worldwide popularity of the examination. As a result, quality control will remain a problem at least in the immediate future. New developments in echocardiography as invasive and noninvasive tools are exciting and indicate that ultrasonic examination of the heart should play an increasingly important role in clinical cardiology.