Echocardiography or cardiac catheterisation--a comparison of risks, benefits and costs.

There are two techniques, echocardiography and cardiac catheterisation, that can be used to evaluate patients with valvular heart disease. This paper describes a comparison of these techniques, in terms of safety, side-effects, quality of imaging and cost. The authors conclude that there are good clinical and economical reasons why echocardiography should be used for evaluating patients with valvular heart disease.