Echocardiography versus Radiography for the Diagnosis and Management of Heart Disease

摘要

Thoracic radiography and echocardiography are both invaluable tools in the diagnosis and management of heart disease. Although there is certainly overlap in the information obtained by these two modalities, they should be viewed as complementary, rather than competing tools.Echocardiography provides two general categories of information about the heart: morphology and function. Morphology of the heart provides information such as chamber dimensions, appearance of the valves, evidence of effusions, and presence of tumors. Morphology is assessed using 2D and M-mode. Systolic and diastolic function is assessed using a combination of these modes and Doppler imaging.