More recently, advances in electronics have enabled contrast echocardiography, harmonic and strain imaging, and the production of an echocardiography machine the size of a laptop computer. Handheld echocardiography is the newest evolution.
The information derived from echocardiographic exam¬ination of the heart has revolutionized the clinical practice of medicine. Presently there is one important diagnosis, however, that the echocardiogram is not able to make. The obstruction of coronary arteries by atheroma that causes angina and fatal and nonfatal heart attacks cannot be visualized on echocardiography. Intravascular ultra¬sound done at the time of interventional procedures is improving our knowledge of the atherosclerotic process and its complications, but this technique cannot be applied in clinical practice. Recent developments are concentrat¬ing on the visualization of the left anterior coronary artery using transthoracic echocardiography.

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