Getting comprehensive, spatial information about regional myocardial perfusion without any doubt is one of the most important clinical questions in cardiology. Today's imaging techniques either indirectly detect regional ischaemia based on the analysis of myocardial function (stress echocardiography and strain imaging) or try to visualize myocardial perfusion directly based on relatively complex techniques [two-dimensional (2D) myocardial contrast echo]. Both conventional 2D stress echocardiography and myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) sample the desired information from serially acquired 2D image planes. This way of acquisition remains time-consuming and sometimes complex.
展开▼
