Echocardiography remains the cornerstone of the evaluation and
management of heart failure despite the availability of other cardiac imaging
modalities. It provides adequate and reliable information on diagnosis, therapeutic
options and prognosis in every stage of heart failure. It is reliable, reproducible, widely
available and cost-effective tool for the evaluation of heart failure. Echo is fundamental
in the initiation and adjustment of medication, patient’s selection for device therapy
and heart transplantation. Furthermore, it is crucial in the follow up and evaluation of
response to advanced therapy. Despite the limitation of echo-derived ejection fraction,
it is the single most important factor in the enrollment in clinical trials and therefore,
clinical decision making in the daily clinical practice. New advances in echo open
promising new frontiers in utility of echo in prevention, detection and management of
heart failure.
Keywords: Cardiac Mechanics, Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy,
Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Contrast Echocardiography, Diastolic
Dysfunction, Ejection Fraction, Fractional Area Change (FAC), Fractional
Shortening, Heart Failure, Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator, LV
Remodeling, Myocardial Performance Index, Myocardial Viability, Noninvasive
Hemodynamic, Quinones Equation, Simpson’s Rule, Strain and Strain Rate,
Stress Echocardiography, Tei Index, Teiccholz Equation, Tricuspid Annular Plane
Systolic Excursion (TAPSE), Wall Motion Score Index.
