[Echocardiographic assessment of heart failure]

In the last two decades M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography yielded outstanding improvements in diagnostic cardiology by providing readily available morphological and functional information of the heart as well as the great vessels. Recent advance of Doppler echocardiography makes it possible not only to examine the blood flow velocity but also to estimate the pressure gradient in the cardiovascular system. Moreover, advent of transesophageal echocardiography permits the routine visualization of certain cardiac regions that often cannot be visualized from the transthoracic views, such as the left atrial appendage and pulmonary vein. By using these echocardiographic techniques, the presence, severity, and hemodynamic consequences of heart failure due to various cardiovascular diseases can be determined noninvasively and repeatedly.