Acute and Critical Care Echocardiography

This is a comprehensive practical guide to the practice of the new subspecialty of critical care echocardiography. The text covers all aspects of clinical practice and describes how to use transthoracic echocardiography to approach and manage common clinical questions. Specific emphasis is placed on the appropriate use of clinical echocardiographic data in the context of the patient’s critical illness; this is illustrated by the frequent use of case studies including both still and moving echocardiographic images. The text covers assessment of, and disorders affecting, the left and right heart, including shock and sepsis. It also looks at how to interpret diastolic information during critical illness and the effect of that illness on valve disease and function. The important subject of fluid responsiveness is explored in detail, as is the influence of organ support and illness on the diagnosis of cardiac tamponade. The information given in the text is summarized using algorithms in a field guide for the critical care echocardiographer, which also provides a rapid guide to assessing time-critical patient presentations.