Editorial
Second harmonic imaging: a new tune for an old fiddle?
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
As with so many important discoveries in science, the significant improvements in echocardiographic image quality generated by second harmonic imaging were discovered almost by chance. Sound signals, including ultrasound transmitted through tissue, usually contain harmonics. These are additional frequencies, at multiples of the main frequency (called the fundamental). Therefore, second harmonic signals have been present within transmitted and reflected ultrasound data since echocardiography began. However, our ultrasound scanners have been "tuned in" to receive only the main or fundamental frequency and the second harmonic has been ignored. The paper by Franke and colleagues in this issue of Heart is one of several studies1-6 that have appeared over the past year or so indicating the improved endocardial definition and therefore diagnostic accuracy obtained by using harmonic imaging. This improvement is especially important during stress echocardiography studies.
Second harmonic imaging was originally developed as a technique to
increase the sensitivity of detection
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Chareonthaitawee, P., Gersh, B. J., Araoz, P. A., Gibbons, R. J.
(2005). Revascularization in Severe Left Ventricular Dysfunction: The Role of Viability Testing. J Am Coll Cardiol
46: 567-574
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Hancock, J.E, Cooke, J.C, Monaghan, M.J
(2004). Effect of harmonic imaging on the measurement of ultrasonic integrated backscatter and its interpretation in patients following myocardial infarction. Eur J Echocardiogr
5: 189-195
[Abstract] [Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
