Beschreibung
Today, coronary artery disease is one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity in the Western World. In the last decade many major diagnostic and therapeutic advances have been made, considerably furthering our potential in the management of coronary artery disease. At the same time, a new generation of cardiac tools has appeared. The field which has, perhaps, undergone the most important technological innovations is echocardiography. Nowadays, in fact, the world of ultrasounds ofters the cardiologist a wide range of technical applicatons: two-dimensional real-time imaging, intra-and extra-cardiac Doppler flow measurements, real-time imaging of cardiac struc ture and flow by 2D color Doppler, high resolution cardiac imaging by transesophageal echocardiography, tissue characterization by analysis of ultrasound wave characteristics, information on myocardial perfusion by con trast echocardiography, etc. Thanks to these technical improvements and to its consequent increased potentiality, echocardiography now plays an impor tant and irreplaceable role in the management of all cardiac diseases. In the field of coronary artery disease, echocardiography can reliably be used not only in the acute phases of the disease to derive useful functional and prog nostic information but also as a stress diagnostic procedure (thanks to new stress modalities and the continuing improvement of reviewing digital sys tems) for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease and for the evaluation of various therapeutic interventions. Furthermore, other promising applications of ultrasounds in this disease are currently being investigated: tissue charac coronary artery anatomy terization, myocardial contrast echocardiography, and flow evaluation by specially-designed ultrasound catheters.
Autorenporträt
InhaltsangabeONE: Evaluation of wall motion abnormalities and stress echocardiography.- 1.Quantitative analysis of wall motion abnormalities.- 2. Assessment of wall motion by two-dimensional echocardiography: Should it be qualitative?.- 3. Real-time, three-dimensional echocardiography: Feasibility and its potential use in evaluation of coronary artery disease.- 4. Exercise 2D-echocardiography: How reliable is it as a routine tool for the assessment of coronary artery disease?.- 5. Echocardiography during transesophageal atrial pacing.- 6. Detection and assessment of the severity of coronary artery disease by dipyridamole echocardiography test.- 7. The use of color-Doppler ultrasound in exercise testing.- 8. Identification of intraoperative myocardial ischemia by transesophageal echocardiography.- 9. Silent myocardial ischemia: Clinical implications, detection and management.- 10. Digital cine loop technology: A new tool for the evaluation of wall motion abnormalities.- TWO: Evaluation of myocardial infarction.- 11. Two-dimensional echocardiography in the early management of acute myocardial infarction.- 12. Left ventricular shape changes and modelling during acute myocardial infarction.- 13. Two-dimensional echocardiographic quantification of myocardial infarct size.- 14. Detection and evaluation of left ventricular thrombosis in myocardial infarction: Role of echocardiography.- 15. Two-dimensional echocardiography and Doppler findings in right ventricular infarction.- 16. The role of cardiac ultrasound in the diagnosis of the 'surgical' complications of acute myocardial infarction.- 17. Prognostic information obtained by 2D-echo-Doppler evaluation in acute myocardial infarction.- 18. Analysis of left ventriucular function in patients with myocardial infarction: Methodological problems and possible solutions.- 19. Stress echocardiography for identifying patients at risk after myocardial infarction.- 20. Two-dimensional echocardiography for the assessment of therapeutic interventions and long-term follow-up of patients with acute myocardial infarction.- 21. Possibilities of ultrasonic tissue identification in the heart.- THREE: Evaluation of coronary anatomy and flow.- 22. Visualization of the coronary arteries by precordial echocardiography.- 23. Evaluation of proximal left coronary artery anatomy and blood flow using digital transesophageal echocardiography.- 24. Intra-arterial ultrasonic imaging.- 25. Intracoronary blood flow velocity, reactive hyperemia and coronary blood flow reserve during and following PTCA.- 26. Long term result of revascularization after angioplasty: Should we randomize?.- FOUR: Myocardial perfusion.- 27. Pathophysiology of the coronary circulation: Role of myocardial contrast echocardiography and relation with other techniques.- 28. Contrast agents for myocardial perfusion studies: Mechanisms, state of the art, and future prospects.- 29. Coronary anatomy and myocardial perfusion: Role of contrast echocardiography.- 30. Physiological heterogeneity of coronary blood flow in space and time by contrast echocardiography.- 31. Myocardial contrast echocardiography for the evaluation of coronary flow reserve: Potential and limitations.
