Cardiac Ultrasound

Excerpt

Cardiac ultrasound, or echocardiography, is a noninvasive diagnostic modality that can provide detailed hemodynamic information quickly at the patient's bedside. It was first adopted by cardiologists for diagnostic purposes in the 1960s and later by emergency physicians as one of several point-of-care ultrasound applications from head to toe. As a result of these two temporally and specialist-independent adaptations, 2 different conventions are used to perform a cardiac ultrasound exam, which will be discussed further.