3.6 Summary

Assessment of chambers is the first thing you should do when performing echocardiography. Very often you will immediately recognize abnormalities such as dilated chambers or reduced ventricular function. It is very important to quantify these abnormalities. Many of the methods of quantification presented in this chapter have their limitations. However, if you are aware of the potential pitfalls and relate the measurements to the pathologies and your visual perception, you will enhance the quality of the exam. Quantification needs experience. Your accuracy will increase if you perform measurements regularly. Ultimately it is worth the extra time it takes. Furthermore, echocardiography is an evolving technique and new developments will certainly alter the way we assess the chambers of the heart. For example, speckle tracing and 3D echocardiography, which are presented in this chapter, might soon be an integral part of every exam - just the way we now routinely perform spectral or color Doppler.