Global Contractility

Hey Pablo!! PSAX is - in my opinioon - a very good view in emergency room or/ and ICU to get a short and quick view to evaluate left ventricular function, besides you can see some other important signs with therapeutical consequences (like d-sign, systolic rv-overload etc.) But PSAX has one disadvantage, that one can only see a small part of LV, so it could happen that one could under- or overestimate LV-function. So I prefer an addidional view: apical 4-, 3-, 2 chamber, if possible (I now sometimes you can´t get a good look on the heart in A4C-view). But as you say: the whole picture is conclusively. By the way: in reality on icu-settings one should use that view/ us-window in which one can optimally see the heart. You know it best in ICU-settings: sometimes you can get only one good view on the heart to decide therapeutical treatment. In modern "high-end" echocardiographic machines there is one "tricky" feature: measurement of LV-contractility (dp/dt) by mitral valve regurgitation; that could help to calculate LV-function, but I haven´t got experiences with it (our GE vivid 7 hasn´t got that software to calculate LV-contractility). But experiences in eyballing is in ER/ ICU the most important quality as you excellently show it in your vids in EchoJournal. Best wishes, Jörg.