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Usefulness of Real‐Time 3‐Dimensional Echocardiography in the Assessment of Infective Endocarditis
Author(s) -
de Isla Leopoldo Pérez,
Zamorano José,
Malangatana Gracieta,
Almería Carlos,
Rodrigo José Luis,
Cordeiro Pedro,
Macaya Carlos
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of ultrasound in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1550-9613
pISSN - 0278-4297
DOI - 10.7863/jum.2005.24.2.231
Subject(s) - medicine , infective endocarditis , endocarditis , cardiology , radiology , intensive care medicine
Objectives Our aim was to provide an initial description of the usefulness of real‐time 3‐dimensional (3D) echocardiography when evaluating patients with infective endocarditis. Methods For this purpose, we describe 3 cases in which the usefulness of real‐time 3D echocardiography is shown. Results Better definition of the morphologic characteristics of the vegetation and valvular apparatus was achieved with real‐time 3D echocardiography. Furthermore, the information provided by the real‐time 3D echocardiogram to the surgical team was accurate and direct because it was not based on detailed verbal information for performing a 3D mental reconstruction but was a simple image similar to what would be found in the operating room. In all cases, the information provided by the real‐time 3D echocardiography was confirmed during surgery. Conclusions Real‐time 3D echocardiography is an important tool for aiding diagnosis or for fine tuning a suspected diagnosis when traditional echocardiography is not completely clear for both medical and surgical decision making.