Echocardiography — Application in Assessing Cardiac Performance in Clinical Care

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Abstract
Assessment of cardiac performance with the use of ultrasound is in its infancy. Continued investigations regarding cardiac function should improve the credibility, reliability and validity of the technique. The obvious limitations of the method resulting from the numerous assumptions necessary to calculate the various indices of function must be kept in mind if a proper perspective of the method is to be maintained. If echocardiography is performed in a consistent, standardized and reliable fashion, diagnostic ultrasound should provide an invaluable means of serially evaluating changes in cardiac performance in a given patient. This is amply demonstrated in the 2 studies assessing cardiac function following anesthesia. Many of the limitations encountered when using echocardiography to evaluate and compare cardiac performances from patient to patient are decreased when repetitive examinations of the same patient allow him to serve as his own control.