Three-dimensional echocardiography: the future today!

Three-dimensional echocardiography depicts the heart and its structures in their realistic forms. This capability decreases variability both in the quality and the interpretation of complex pathology, among investigators. Therefore, it is likely that the method will become the standard echocardiography examination in the future. The availability and versatility in use of the volumetric data set allows to retrieve an infinite number of cardiac cross-sections which allow more accurate and reproducible measurements of valve areas, masses and cavity volumes by obviating geometric assumptions. In the future new physiologic parameters will provide additional information and will allow to address new clinical questions.