Dual contrast echocardiography following peripheral venous injection.

Contrast echocardiography was carried out using a dual method in which two ways of ultrasonic beam were recorded on a cross-sectional plane of the heart. The advantage of this method was to make it possible to demonstrate the right and left cardiac cavities simultaneously and to catch the flow of contrast echoes from many-sided viewpoints, whereas single beam echocardiography could not make it. Dual contrast studies following peripheral venous injection were performed on patients with congenital heart diseases. These studies revealed accurate hemodynamics in 26 of 27 patients.