Echocardiographic assessment of the right heart — 2015 expert guidelines in clinical practice

Abstract

Cardiac imaging is crucial in diagnostics and monitoring of cardiovascular diseases. Among all imaging techniques, studies, echocardiography is a method of choice considering its availability, accuracy, safety and cost effectiveness. Significant prognostic value of the right ventricular function makes its evaluation an indispensable part of daily practice. Another updated edition of guidelines on optimal echocardiographic methodology providing new set of reference values confirms the importance of the right heart assessment in clinical setting. These new recommendations on adult echocardiography were endorsed by American Society of Echocardiography and European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging and published in 2015. The document underlines the need for right heart evaluation during each and every echocardiographic examination using all available acoustic windows and combining the findings with clinical data. Detailed choice of methods is individualized with regard to the clinical situation, symptoms, equipment, skills and echocardiographers’ experience. The guidelines highlight the need to relate echocardiographic findings to the individual features, especially in case of extreme values (body size), to eliminate potential interpreting mistakes in individuals with extreme weight and height. The guidelines organize the methodology of echocardiographic examination significantly and increase its clinical value.