Echocardiography 1985 and Beyond

Substantial advances in two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography in the last few years have significantly changed the practice of pediatric cardiology [1]. High-resolution echocardiography has provided detailed anatomic diagnostic information that often obviates the need for cardiac catheterization, especially in infants with heart disease. The addition of quantitative Doppler velocimetry has provided physiologic information related to pulmonary and systemic blood flow volume, intracardiac and great artery pressure, and pressure gradients. Additionally, these techniques have proved to be applicable in the human fetus where they provide information for evaluation, diagnosis, and management of structural heart disease, rhythm disturbances, or derangements of cardiac function that can be studied in detail as early as the 15th or 16th week of pregnancy [2].