Basic transthoracic echocardiography

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7505.1432

BMJ 2005;330:1432-1436 (18 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7505.1432

Clinical review

Basic transthoracic echocardiography

Graham S Hillis, senior lecturer in cardiology¹, Peter Bloomfield, consultant cardiologist²

¹ University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen AB25 2ZN, ² Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh Peter Bloomfield

Correspondence to: G Hillis g.hillis@abdn.ac.uk

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

Introduction

Transthoracic echocardiography is one of the most commonly performedcardiac investigations. It can provide comprehensive informationabout cardiac structure and function, helping to establish adiagnosis and guide therapy, and is no longer the preserve ofthe specialist cardiology department. Examinations are frequentlyrequested by doctors in other branches of medicine; they needto know what questions an echocardiogram can, and cannot, answer.

Echocardiography images are best viewed as moving pictures.These are shown on bmj.com, several with the motion of a fullcardiac cycle. The website also contains brief explanationsof the commonly used imaging modalities.

Sources and scope

As a brief review cannot encompass a field as vast as transthoracicechocardiography, we have focused on common clinical problemsthat can be investigated by echocardiography. Our primary sourceswere echocardiographic texts and clinical guidelines (see educationalresources on bmj.com). We used Medline searches to update andsupplement information on specific conditions.