Doppler echocardiography and cardiac failure

The management of cardiac failure has benefited from major technological ad vances in the field of echo cardiography over the last decade. The quantification of regional and global myocardial function has reinforce d the unquestioned role of echocardiography in the anatomical and functiona l evaluation and in the understanding of the physiopathology of the changes observed in cardiac failure. The aetiological diagnosis has improved with the introduction of new techni ques such as Doppler tissue imaging, especially for the differentiation of restrictive cardiomyopathy from constrictive pericarditis. The prognostic assessment has also been enriched by Doppler echocardiograph ic parameters such as the size of the left and right ventricles, their "sph ericisation" pulmonary artery pressure evaluation and modality of left vent ricular filling. Finally, new treatments such as biventricular stimulation have also improve d with echocardiographic evaluation, both for the selection of indications and the follow-up of results.