BMJ  2005;330:731 (26 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7493.731

Letter

Recent advances in non-invasive cardiology

Article does not mention echocardiography

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—The recent review of advances in non-invasive cardiology by Prasad et al does not discuss echocardiography except briefly as an electronic addendum.¹ A striking omission is three dimensional echocardiography, which has advantages over two dimensional echocardiography in assessing left ventricular volumes and synchrony and for congenital disease and mitral valve disease.² Miniaturisation of machines now allows studies to be conducted anywhere,³ so that echocardiography is increasingly being adopted by non-cardiologists. Stress echocardiography has repeatedly been validated for the prediction of coronary stenoses and for stratifying risk and is gaining in use (cardiac workforce requirements in the UK, www.BCS.com).⁴ A fuller account of advances in echocardiography is available.⁵

No competition should occur between different imaging modalities, and the most appropriate option should be used for any particular clinical indication. Echocardiography will always remain essential for the investigation of acutely ill patients since it is . . . [Full text of this article]

jboydchambers@aol.com, British Society of Echocardiography, London SW1P 1SB

British Society of Echocardiography, London SW1P 1SB

European Association of Echocardiography, The European Heart House, 2035 Route des Colles, Les Templiers—BP 179, 06903 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France

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Relevant Article

Recent developments in non-invasive cardiology

Sanjay K Prasad, Ravi G Assomull, and Dudley J Pennell
BMJ 2004 329: 1386-1389. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]