© 2003 by European Society of Cardiology
Copyright © 2003, The European Society of Cardiology
The 50th anniversary of echocardiography: are we at the dawn of a new era?
Department of Cardiology, Thoraxcentre, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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Disease is very old, and nothing about it has changed.It is we who change, and we learn to recognise what was formally imperceptible.
J.M. Charcot (1825–1893)
Before the development of cardiovascular imaging techniques, clinicians could only imagine how the heart of their patients was contracting. It was not until the introduction of contrast ventriculography and quantitative methods for analysis in the early 1960s that objective data could be substituted for the subjective bedside observations. These developments irrevocably changed cardiology from an art to a science. Computer-aided systems were subsequently developed for more accurate analysis and reproducible measurements.
In the past 20 years, advances in digital techniques and the imagination and creativity of many have resulted in an enormous progress in complex cardiac imaging modalities including ultrasound imaging, SPECT, multislice-CT, MR and PET[1]. These advances will undoubtedly accelerate as our reliance on imaging techniques for management of cardiovascular disease
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High-end ultrasound imaging systems |
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Special dedicated ultrasound systems |
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Hand-held ultrasound systems |
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The "Stethoscope" of the 3rd Millennium
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Conclusion |
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