โ Scribed by Donald J. Flanigan
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
The text book, Cardiac Ultrasound, generally speaking, is a well-written, excellent publication intended primarily for the advanced clinicians and engineers in the field of echocardiography. This publication is the result of a cardiovascular symposium held in Boston in June, 1974. The contributors are well known authors in the field of cardiac ultrasound.
The first two-thirds of the book deals with the use of conventional ultrasound for general diagnostic purposes and the latter third of the book deals with newer, advanced and experimental uses of echocardiography.
The initial chapter on ultrasound basics written by the editors explains in detail the physical principles of the ultrasound equipment and transducers. I feel this chapter has been written primarily for the engineers and for those less experienced in echocardiography, other sources for a more basic understanding of these principles are available. When the overall basic physical principles are understood, then this chapter can be tackled.
There is a chapter dealing with recording methods which is well done. It is good to have something in print describing the various types of recording devices available with the advantages of each. The diagrams and examples are well done.
There is an excellent chapter by the Doctors Gramiak and Nanda regarding structure identification in echocardiography, describing the methods by which the chambers and valvular structures are identified.
The chapters on the mitral, tricuspid and pulmonary valves were written by Doctors Gramiak and Nanda. In these chapters the authors describe well the positions in which the transducer must be placed for optimal visualization of the particular valve to be studied. The illustrations and examples are adequate. The content of these abnormalities are well explained in depth. Doctor Winsberg's chapter on aortic valve is well written with excellent illustrations and explanations of the various normal and pathologic states. I do not feel, however, that there is a reliable relationship between the measurement of the open aortic leaflets and the degree of stenosis as he suggests.
The pericardial effusion chapter by Doctor Teichholz is well described but the illustrations are sub-optimal.
The chapter on the echocardiographic evaluation of the prosthetic heart valves by Doctor Johnson is notably complete, and well done.
The chapter on congenital heart disease by Doctor Solinger is well done and includes a good review of the literature.
The remainder of the book deals with more experimental devices which are not generally available to the clinical echocardiographer. Various devices are described for the use of realtime imaging with good illustrations and descriptions. The problem of visualizing real-time by a single picture is appreciated.
There is an interesting chapter on the state of the art of computer reconstruction of the moving heart. Other chapters include Doppler Echocardiography and a well written chapter on Acoustic Holography. The chapter on ultrasonic determination of cardiac macrostructure is difficult to understand by the non-engineer.
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