Multiplane transthoracic echocardiography: Image orientation, anatomic correlation, and clinical experience with a prototype phased array multiplane surface probe

Multiplane transthoracic echocardiography provides numerous sequential images by rotation, of the transducer imaging array through 180 degrees with the surface probe at a fixed site. We explored the potential of this new technique with a 3.7/5-MHz prototype multiplane transthoracic probe. Echo-anatomic correlations were first examined in ten explanted hearts. The transducer was then, applied in 30 normal humans at transthoracic acoustic windows to determine the imaging planes available. Use of this probe in 76 patients with various cardiac disorders indicated that this probe eases the procedure of transthoracic echocardiographic examination, provides incremental information for improved delineation and understanding of cardiac pathology, and yields many novel insights to echocardiographic interpretation. Multiplane transthoracic echocardiography appears to expand the versatility of transthoracic two-dimensional echocardiography.