The first major reference in the field of echocardiography was Harvey Feigenbaum’s textbook, first published in 1972; it remained the standard for some time. Over the past 20 years, a large number of textbooks devoted to echocardiography have emerged. They range from very practical ‘how-to’ manuals to very comprehensive texts dealing with both the theory and application. These have both enhanced the standards of practice and provided scientific credibility to the field in general. Despite this large body of knowledge, those who practise echocardiography on a day-to-day basis continue to be confronted with cases for which no textbook provides an easy answer. This is because the wide variety of pathologies and clinical situations the echocardiographer confronts present novel situations, which test diagnostic acumen. It is for this reason that unusual and challenging case presentations maintain such popularity at meetings.
Doctors Kronzon and Tunick attempt to address this need in their new textbook Challenging Cases in Echocardiography. They provide 92 well-described and well-illustrated cases that arose from their clinical practice at a large New York teaching hospital, which provided them a considerable clinical challenge. They provide the readers an opportunity to share in these cases, humbly admitting in their preface that they themselves had difficulty. Doctors Kronzon and Tunick are highly regarded clinicians and echocardiographers, and their laboratory is known to be a high-quality institution. Therefore, the cases have considerable credibility. The text is intended to challenge experienced echocardiographers. This is no introductory text or ‘how-to’ manual; it is rather a potentially valuable teaching tool for echocardiographic laboratories. The accompanying CD, which provides the cine loops of many of the cases, is a highly valuable component, and it allows sharing of these cases in other laboratories.
This is a valuable addition to the echocardiography library of any experienced echocardiographer, and it should also find its way to the reference shelf and weekly rounds of echocardiographic laboratories aiming to maintain a high standard of practice.