Augmenting reality in echocardiography

Echocardiography is a vital first-line imaging tool for the diagnosis and management of many cardiovascular diseases. Its availability and low cost have encouraged widespread use by clinicians for the diagnosis and management of patients with heart failure.1 Visual estimation is widely used to assess ejection fraction (EF), the percentage of blood the left ventricle pumps out during a contraction. Accurately determining the EF in patients with heart failure is crucial for the implementation of timely guideline-directed medical treatment. There is a substantial need for high-fidelity determination of EF in emergency settings. However, there is high interobserver variability with visual estimation methods, which can be compounded by inadequate quality of capture and lack of specialised training in both obtaining and interpreting echocardiograms in these settings.2 The work presented by Choi et al3 represents an important advance in reducing the burden of time and cost...
Source: Heart - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Editorials Source Type: research