The following section will highlight key limitations and pitfalls in assessment of LV function. This section is aimed towards the intermediate level bedside sonographer, to better prepare them for challenging ventricular movement and morphology. This section also contains a video tutorial to review the pitfalls.
The following diagram outlines the key pitfalls in visual assessment of LV function.
A global visual evaluation of LV function requires an assessment of myocardial thickening and endocardial excursion.
While basic visual assessment of the LV does not require an extensive evaluation of short axis cross-sections, you can appreciate that the complexity can increase with more careful analysis. We get around this kind of impractical analysis at the bedside by acquiring multiple views in orthogonal planes.
As the eyes can be easily confounded by multiple regional wall motion abnormalities, the hands (represented as blue boxes in this clip) can be used to allow your eyes to selectively assess each segment at a time.
English