Limitations

Limitations

However, despite the potential of 3D-echo to visualize cardiac

structures and perform volume computations this technique

has not gained wide spread acceptance to date. This

might be related to several factors: (1) 3D can only visualize

what is also seen on the two dimensional image, thus, an experienced

echocardiographer will obtain similar information

from a conventional examination without the need for costly

instrumentation and long post-processing times, (2) operator

experience with the reconstruction and interpretation of 3Dimages

is necessary, (3) 3D-image quality greatly depends on

the quality of the two-dimensional image and the ability to

obtain a motion and artifact free 3D-data set, (4) three-dimensional

imaging only creates a “virtual sense of depth” on a

flat (2-dimensional) screen. And finally, manual endocardial

contour tracing is still required to obtain 3D-volumes.

Some of these limitations will certainly be overcome with

newer techniques and growing experience with 3D-echo.