[Clinical usefulenss of a saggital ultrasonography study of the left atrium: report of a case]. / Utilità clinica di una sezione ecocardiografica sagittale dell'auricola sinistra: descrizione di un caso.

Multiplane transesophageal echocardiography allows a more complete image of the complex anatomy of the left atrial appendage. In this study we describe a clinical case in which a "sagittal echocardiographic section" revealed a thrombus not imaged with the usual horizontal and longitudinal echocardiographic planes.

[Posterior echocardiography windows: usefulness in clinical practice]. / Le finestre ecocardiografiche posteriori: utilità nella pratica clinica.

Posterior cardiac structures cannot always be imaged by means of standard transthoracic echocardiography. Left pleural effusion leading to pulmonary atelectasis and/or to displacement of air-filled pulmonary tissue displacement, allows ultrasound transmission from a patient's back to his heart through a liquid interface. In this study we present the clinical usefulness of echocardiographic posterior windows for the diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis and aortic dissection in 2 patients in whom the standard transthoracic approach did not permit diagnostic imaging. We conclude that, in the case of left pleural effusion, the use of posterior windows should be encouraged.