Real time 3D echocardiography (RT3D) for assessment of ventricular and vascular function in hypertensive and heart failure patients.

Background: Cardiac and systemic hemodynamics have been historically in the domain of invasive cardiology, but recent advances in real-time 3-Dimensional echocardiography (RT3D echo) provide a reliable measurement of ventricular volumes, allowing to measure a set of hemodynamic parameters previously difficult or impossible to obtain with standard 2D echo.

Aim: To assess the feasibility of a comprehensive hemodynamic study with RT-3D echo.

Methods: We enrolled 136 patients referred for routine echocardiography: 44 normal (N), 57 hypertensive (HYP), and 35 systolic heart failure patients (HF).

Head to head comparison of 2D vs real time 3D dipyridamole stress echocardiography.

Real-time three-dimensional (RT-3D) echocardiography has entered the clinical practice but true incremental value over standard two-dimensional echocardiography (2D) remains uncertain when applied to stress echo. The aim of the present study is to establish the additional value of RT-3D stress echo over standard 2D stress echocardiography. We evaluated 23 consecutive patients (age = 65 +/- 10 years, 16 men) referred for dipyridamole stress echocardiography with Sonos 7500 (Philips Medical Systems, Palo, Alto, CA) equipped with a phased - array 1.