The Wonderful World of Images Report on the Workshop

Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI) and contrast echocardiography open up new possibilities for exactly representing and assessing functional cardiac disturbances. This was the topic discussed by Dr. Harald Becher of John Radcliff Hospital, Oxford, and Dr. Jörg Strotmann of the University Clinic Würzburg in the framework of the Toshiba workshop “New approaches in echocardiography” at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress in Vienna. Conventional echocardiography is a transthoracic examination technique that produces varying sound conditions, depending on the patient. This often makes it impossible to exactly determine ventricular pump function. Transpulmonal introduction of contrast media, however, creates a contrast between the cavum of the ventricle and the myocard.