Utility of contrast echocardiography with harmonic imaging in a patient with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and midventricular obstruction

Echocardiography is routinely used for the evaluation of cardiac function. Definition of the endocardial border is essential for the assessment of glo bal and regional left ventricular contractility. This is sometimes difficul t due to an inadequate acoustic window. New echocardiographic techniques ma y be useful to accurate and noninvasively diagnose certain conditions which may otherwise remain undiagnosed with traditional techniques. We present a case of a patient diagnosed with segmental wall motion abnorma lities (lateral and apical hypokinesis) by conventional echocardiography. T he use of harmonic imaging with contrast changed the initial diagnosis and the patient was diagnosed with severe hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with midv entricular obstruction, without segmental wall motion abnormalities.