Technology update: intracardiac echocardiography – a review of the literature

Abstract

The development of new imaging tools helps in better investigation of cardiac structures and function by showing detailed images during interventional procedures. Intracardiac echocardiography plays a pivotal role as an intraoperative real-time imaging tool during invasive cardiac procedures. Initially, this echocardiographic technique was particularly useful when transthoracic image quality was insufficient and to avoid general anesthesia for transesophageal imaging. Nowadays, intracardiac echocardiography is routinely used in several cardiac invasive laboratories to support several types of procedures, such as extraction and implantation of cardiac devices, electrophysiological mapping, ablation, and endomyocardial biopsies. This review gives an overview of the basic principles of intracardiac echocardiography and examines its applications in the different settings of invasive cardiology.

Keywords:

• ICE
• cardiovascular imaging
• electrophysiology
• invasive cardiology

Acknowledgments

The authors thank professor Andrea Natale for his guidance in intracardiac echocardiography during EP procedures. The authors also thank Federico Pintus and Lorenzo Vitulano for providing technical help for imaging. All authors declare that written informed consent was obtained from the patients for publishing the accompanying images.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.