Echocardiography, also known as cardiac ultrasound, is the use of ultrasound to examine the heart. It is a type of medical imaging, using standard ultrasound or Doppler ultrasound. The visual image formed using this technique is called an echocardiogram, a cardiac echo, or simply an echo.
An ejection fraction (EF) is the volumetric fraction of fluid ejected from a chamber with each contraction. It can refer to the cardiac atrium, ventricle, gall bladder, or leg veins, although if unspecified it usually refers to the left ventricle of the heart. EF is widely used as a measure of the pumping efficiency of the heart and is used to classify heart failure types. It is also used as an indicator of the severity of heart failure, although it has recognized limitations.
Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is thickening of the heart muscle of the left ventricle of the heart, that is, left-sided ventricular hypertrophy and resulting increased left ventricular mass.
The American College of Cardiology (ACC), based in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit medical association established in 1949. It bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet its qualifications. Education is a core component of the college, which is also active in the formulation of health policy and the support of cardiovascular research.
Heart is a biweekly peer-reviewed medical journal covering all areas of cardiovascular medicine and surgery. It is the official journal of the British Cardiovascular Society. It was established in 1939 as the British Heart Journal and is published by the BMJ Group. The name was changed from British Heart Journal to Heart in 1996 with the start of volume 75. The editor-in-chief is Catherine Otto.
Catherine Mary Otto is an echocardiography specialist who serves as J. Ward Kennedy-Hamilton Endowed Chair in Cardiology at the University of Washington Medical Center. She has authored echocardiography textbooks. The major fields she works in are valvular heart disease, adult congenital heart disease, and echocardiography.
The Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) is the national voice for cardiovascular physicians and scientists in Canada. The CCS is a membership organization that represents more than 1,800 professionals in the cardiovascular field. Its mission is to promote cardiovascular health and care through knowledge translation, professional development and leadership in health policy.
Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, also known as cardiovascular MRI, is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology used for non-invasive assessment of the function and structure of the cardiovascular system. Conditions in which it is performed include congenital heart disease, cardiomyopathies and valvular heart disease, diseases of the aorta such as dissection, aneurysm and coarctation, coronary heart disease. It can also be used to look at pulmonary veins. Patient information may be found here.
Aortography involves placement of a catheter in the aorta and injection of contrast material while taking X-rays of the aorta. The procedure is known as an aortogram. The diagnosis of aortic dissection can be made by visualization of the intimal flap and flow of contrast material in both the true lumen and the false lumen. The catheter has to be inserted through the right femoral artery, because in about two-thirds of cases the aortic dissection spreads into the left common iliac artery.
The European Heart Journal is a peer-reviewed medical journal of cardiology published by Oxford University Press on a weekly basis, on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. The first issue was published in February 1980.
EP Europace is a peer-reviewed medical journal published by Oxford University Press that publishes research articles about the study and management of cardiac arrhythmias, cardiac pacing, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology. It is 1 of 13 official journals of the European Society of Cardiology and is the official journal of the society's working groups on Cardiac Cellular Electrophysiology and e-Cardiology and of the European Heart Rhythm Association.
The Journal of the American College of Cardiology is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of cardiovascular disease, including original clinical studies, translational investigations with clear clinical relevance, state-of-the-art papers, review articles, and editorials interpreting and commenting on the research presented, published by the American College of Cardiology.
Cardiac imaging refers to minimally invasive imaging of the heart using ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), or nuclear medicine (NM) imaging with PET or SPECT. These cardiac techniques are otherwise referred to as echocardiography, Cardiac MRI, Cardiac CT, Cardiac PET and Cardiac SPECT including myocardial perfusion imaging.
Tissue Doppler echocardiography (TDE) is a medical ultrasound technology, specifically a form of echocardiography that measures the velocity of the heart muscle (myocardium) through the phases of one or more heartbeats by the Doppler effect of the reflected ultrasound. The technique is the same as for flow Doppler echocardiography measuring flow velocities. Tissue signals, however, have higher amplitude and lower velocities, and the signals are extracted by using different filter and gain settings. The terms tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and tissue velocity imaging (TVI) are usually synonymous with TDE because echocardiography is the main use of tissue Doppler.
The Society for Vascular Medicine is a learned society base in the United States. It is considered a medical specialty professional society in the field of vascular medicine.
The American Journal of Hypertension is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering the field of cardiovascular medicine. It is published by Oxford University Press and the editor-in-chief is Ernesto L. Schiffrin. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2020 impact factor of 2.689.
JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Elsevier for the American College of Cardiology since 2008. It currently has the highest impact factor among journals with a focus on cardiovascular imaging and it publishes original articles ranging from clinical studies to translational and basic research on novel imaging modalities with potential for future clinical usage. It is indexed by MEDLINE and on PubMed.
JACC: Cardiovascular Intervention is a peer-reviewed sub-specialty medical journal published by Elsevier for the American College of Cardiology since 2008. The journal focus on articles on interventional cardiology, encompassing cardiac coronary and non-coronary interventions, including peripheral arteries and cerebrovasculature. The majority of articles report results from clinical trials illustrating evidence to inform and alter practice guidelines and experimental studies describing improved technologies and understanding of cardiac disease. The journal has a 5-Year Impact Factor of 9.605 (2018), is part of the American College of Cardiology journal family, and is ranked among the top 10 cardiology journals.
The volume of the heart's left atrium is an important biomarker for cardiovascular physiology and clinical cardiology. It is usually calculated as left atrial volume index in terms of body surface area.
Harvey Feigenbaum is an American cardiologist known for his life-long work in the field of echocardiography. He wrote the first textbook on the subject in 1972, which is currently in its 8th edition, and has published over 300 articles. He has trained generations of cardiologists including many of the world's pioneers in the field through his numerous visitors, frequent workshops, annual courses in Indianapolis, Indiana beginning in 1968, the year when he started formal fellowship training He founded the field of cardiac sonography in 1965 and the American Society of Echocardiography in 1975. His seminal article on the diagnosis of pericardial effusions published in 1965 with his technique "brought echocardiography to the attention of thousands of practitioners".
