Real-Time 3D Echocardiography for Congenital Heart Disease

Book excerpt: This project is intended for the first teaching text in this field. It will describe the new concepts, methodology, and application of real-time 3 dimensional echocardiography for congenital heart diseases. It will concentrate on a step-wised approach for each and every major CHD Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in young infants. This monograph will be the first text to focus on a relatively new technology, i.e. real time 3- dimensional echocardiography, and its history, technology, approaches, normal study, and clinical application in a variety of congenital heart diseases from fetuses to adults. This technology first became available around the turn of this century. In the last few years, this field has seen rapid progress in technological advancement and expanding current and potential clinical applications. This technology is particularly suited for congenital heart disease in which there is a clear need for more clear and accurate delineation of the congenital heart defects from a 3- dimensional perspective for diagnosis, assessment, and prognosis of these defects. Although there are two monographs for real-time 3D echocardiography adults with heart diseases (Shiota, and Nanda), mostly coronary heart disease, valve heart disease, etc, there is no published monograph related to real-time 3D echocardiography in children with congenital heart disease. This project will fill a gap for potentially a diverse audience including pediatric cardiologists, congenial heart surgeons, anesthesiologists, high risk Ob/Gyn specialists, neonatologists, adult congenital disease specialists, pediatric residents, fellows, nurses, physician assistants, and other health care professionals.