ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY

Doppler echocardiography is becoming an increasingly important modality in diagnostic cardiology. The introduction of color flow imaging has served to strengthen the position of Doppler echocardiography in the clinical care of cardiac patients.

Doppler echocardiography is a method for detecting the direction and velocity of moving blood within the heart. The technique may be used for detection of cardiac valvular insufficiency and stenosis, as well as a large number of other abnormal flows. The current interest in Doppler echocardiography has reached a remarkable level in the past few years. Doppler methods extend the use of cardiac ultrasound into the evaluation of normal and abnormal flow states and provide quantitative data that are essential in the clinical decision-making process concerning patients with heart disease.