Echocardiography in Different Clinical Situations Appropriate use to do Better

Abstract

In the last 5 decades the utilization of ultrasound has greatly developed into echocardiography, generating a confused picture of the echocardiographic technique, with patients who do not always receive the right echocardiogram. Previous publications have reported a proposal for reclassification of Echocardiography based on function, competence, applications, proper machines and purposes is intended to give a coherent and adequate definition of requirements, in order to have appropriate use of the technique related to place where it is used, the clinical situation, the related function, the information expected, the exam indications and the educational pathway and requirements for the accreditation of the operators and echo-labs. In this paper we revisit these proposals emphasizing the importance to use echo properly and appropriately as well as the need to acquire accreditation through a defined educational pathway and training and the possibilities to use it widely in different clinical conditions.