Echocardiography in the Era of Multimodality Cardiovascular Imaging
Figure 5
Apical 4-chamber images taken before ((a) and (b)) and after ((c) and (d)) ultrasound contrast injection in a patient attending for routine transthoracic echocardiography. At rest, endocardial definition at end diastole (a) and end systole (b) was poor and did not permit quantitation of ejection fraction or assessment of regional (segmental) function. Following a single bolus injection of contrast, endocardial border visualisation was significantly improved at end diastole (c) and end systole (d), allowing regional and global systolic assessments.
