Free-hand four-dimensional echocardiography: a diagnostic tool in coronary artery disease.

Direct echocardiographic visualization of coronary arteries has been difficult due to the inherent problems involved in obtaining ultrasound access. We used freehand four-dimensional echocardiography in a 79-year-old patient with a trifurcational stenosis. We were able to identify a 6 x 11 mm possibly subintimal atheromathous plaque and to measure the diameters of the left descending coronary artery before, in, and behind the stenosis.