Echocardiography
Transthoracic Echo (TTE)
TTE is the standard approach, passing signals through the chest wall.
It is useful for determining LVEF, wall motion and thickness, myocardial ischemia and infarction, chamber size, valve morphology, proximal great vessels, and pericardial effusion.
it is cheap and non-invasive, but is not as useful people with obesity, COPD, chest wall deformities, or for posterior investigations.
Trans Esophageal Echo (TEE)
TEE is better for posterior structures, but is also more invasive.
Doppler Echocardiography
Doppler measures blood flow, turbulence, and velocity. It permits estimation of pressure gradients of the heart and great vessels.
It is the most useful test in establishing types of cardiomyopathy and is also useful for investigating valve problems.
Echocardiography can be used to measure pressure...