**Meet the editor**

Angelo Squeri MD is a clinical cardiologist at Maria Cecilia Hospital, GVM Care & Research (Cotignola, Italy). He graduated in medicine in 2003 at the Università degli Studi di Parma where he also received his fellowship in Cardiology. He developed his interest in echocardiography especially in stress echocardiography with myocardial perfusion study, publishing several articles in the field of

coronary artery disease. He also developed an expertise in valvular heart disease and three dimensional echocardiography, becoming lead of the TAVI and MitraClip imaging program at Maria Cecilia Hospital. He is a member of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging, European Working group on valvular heart disease and Associazione Nazionale dei Medici Cardiologi Ospedalieri. He has also been an invited speaker at a number of international meetings and serves as reviewer for several journals.

Contents

**Preface VII**

**Function 1**

Chapter 1 **Echocardiographic Evaluation of Left Ventricular Diastolic**

Yoshikawa and Minoru Yoshiyama

**Resonance Imaging 11**

**Significance 51**

**Valvuloplasty 101**

**Replacement 119**

Diena

Chapter 2 **Right Chambers Quantification in Clinical Practice:**

Lucia Agoston-Coldea and Silvia Lupu

Chapter 3 **Lung Ultrasound Comet Tails — Technique and Clinical**

Douglas T. Summerfield and Bruce D. Johnson

Chapter 4 **Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation: From Echo Assessment to**

Chapter 5 **Real-Time 3D Echocardiography in Percutaneous Balloon Mitral**

Mark A. Navarro, Michael Kim and Ernesto E. Salcedo

Chapter 6 **A Framework for the Systematic Characterization of the Aortic Valve Complex by Real-Time Three Dimensional**

Daniel Zalkind, Michael Kim and Ernesto E. Salcedo

Gheorghe Cerin, Adrian Bogdan Popa, Razvan Ticulescu and Marco

**Echocardiography: Implications for Transcatheter Aortic Valve**

**Surgical Strategy and Techniques 65**

Ryotaro Wake, Shota Fukuda, Hiroki Oe, Yukio Abe, Junichi

**Echocardiography Compared with Cardiac Magnetic**

### Contents

#### **Preface XI**


Daniel Zalkind, Michael Kim and Ernesto E. Salcedo

Preface

critical ones.

Echocardiography, despite the huge development of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, is still the most used imaging technique for the evaluation of cardiac

Echocardiography offers a number of advantages over newer and more sophisticated technologies. First of all echocardiography offers a complete morphological and hemody‐ namic evaluation. Furthermore ultrasounds are radiation and contrast free, they are wide‐ ly available, relatively cheap and they can be performed at the patient's bed, even to very

Cardiologists face unique challenges interpreting echocardiographic imaging and trough

Heart failure is becoming increasingly common and a major clinical and public health challenge. The prevalence of the disease is rising mainly because the population is getting older. More people survive myocardial infarction and some of them will develop heart failure. An increasing fraction, especially older, diabetic, hypertensive patients, and those with atrial fibrillation, exhibit heart failure with preserved systolic function. Echocardiog‐ raphy meets the growing need for non-invasive imaging in the expanding heart failure population because of its ability to provide accurate measures of ventricular function, fill‐ ing pressure and to asses causes of structural heart disease. Echocardiography offers also

The echocardiographic technology and its applications have widely developed in the last years leading to a better diagnostic accuracy. On the other hand echocardiography special‐

Since the introduction of percutaneous closure of patent foramen ovale, atrial and ventric‐ ular septal defects, echocardiography has become the imaging technique of choice in selec‐

In the last years new structural heart interventions have become widely available such as, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, mitral valve repair, mitral valvuloplasty and left atrial appendage closure. These new percutaneous therapies need, in particular during the patients selection phase, a precise evaluation of cardiac dimensions and a complete under‐ standing of the spatial relationships between cardiac structures. Echocardiography is of paramount importance both during the patient evaluation and guiding the procedure.

Three dimensional echocardiography, especially in the transesophageal approach, is a key

technique for a precise localization and an easier definition of cardiac anatomy.

tion of patients and during the percutaneous procedure in the cath lab.

the integration of these data with other clinical information.

prognostic information and can guide the therapy.

ists have new clinical questions to answer.

anatomy and function and today it plays an essential role in daily decision making.
