[Contrast echocardiography in two dimensions and in real time. 2. Clinical applications]

The anatomical and functional abnormalities which are the basis of septal defects and valvular incompetence can be visualised directly by two-dimensional contrast echocardiology. Although right-left shunts at atrial or ventricular level can easily be discovered and visualised after injection peripherally, the same is not true of left-right ventricular shunts; these are not detectable. As for left-right shunts (as demonstrated by oxymetry) at the atrial level, these are in a separate category; the passage of ultrasonic contrast medium from right to left is inconstant. This technique also allows the study of abnormal blood flow: tricuspid incompetence, turbulence caused by prosthetic valves, etc.