Real‐Time, Three‐Dimensional Echocardiography: Feasibility and Initial Us

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to review new approaches to three-dimensional acquisition and presentation of echocardiographic data. New three-dimensional phased -array devices hold great promise for the development and application of new descriptors for left ventricular performance, myocardial perfusion, and other important indices of cardiac function. (ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY, Volume 8, January 1991) cardiac ultrasound, echocardiographyIt has long been desirable to acquire as much spatial anatomical data about the heart as possible. Two-dimensional echocardiography offered considerable advantages over M-mode echocardiography because of the ability to provide real-time tomographic images of the heart and it extended the ability of practitioners to make complex diagnostic decisions. In the beginning, there were questions by some whether two-dimensional approaches were worth the time and expense. Continued experience with these methods provided a n opportunity for clinicians to ask new questions. Similarly, threedimensional echocardiography appears to be a desirable goal as it would likely provide a method for deriving new anatomical, functional, and flow indices of the human heart. Two-Dimensional LimitationsDespite the obvious advantages of two-dimensional echocardiography methods over Mmode, serious limitations remain. Cardiac structures are spatially complex and a mental picture of the heart must be acquired from a

Direct measurement of left ventricular outflow tract by transthoracic real-time 3D-echocardiography increases accuracy in assessment of aortic valve stenosis

“…Real-time 3D images were obtained transthoracically by a three-dimensional echocardiographic system with an xMatrix transducer technology (SONOS 7500, Philips, Netherlands) [15]. Volume-data sets from parasternal and apical windows were acquired in DICOM format with the subjects in left lateral decubitus position.…”

Three-dimensional adult echocardiography: Where the hidden dimension helps

“…This approach is based on real-time volumetric imaging, which uses transducers containing arrays of piezoelectric elements capable of scanning pyramidal volumes, rather than the conventional 2D phased-array transducers that scan a fan-shaped sector in a single plane. Initial reports on the use of sparse array transducers date back to the early 1990s [10,11]. Processing the information generated by these transducers required computational power that was beyond what was available at the time.…”

Basic principles and practical application

“…Original volumetric 3D echocardiography described the acquisition of 3D datasets in real time at a rate of about 15-20 3D datasets per second using sparse matrix array transducer technology [1] [2][3] [4], thus, eliminating time-consuming 3D reconstruction of two-dimensional (2D) image planes which were prone to interpolation artifacts (7 Chapter 1) [5][6] [7] [8]. Such pyramid-shaped, volumetric 3D datasets, once acquired, could be further analyzed by cropping and slicing .…”