It is a ‘humbling’ privilege, not to mention a daunting task, to be asked to review the latest edition of Bonita Anderson's seminal textbook on echocardiography. As a registrar training in echocardiography, I remember swotting up on the first edition to learn ‘everything I ever needed to know’ about the normal echocardiographic examination, and I think every registrar or sonographer training up in echocardiography in Australasia would relate a similar experience. Now in its third edition, this textbook has become ‘the textbook’ for trainees in echocardiography and an essential component of the reading lists on many training courses, including, but not limited to, the Diploma in Cardiac Ultrasound offered through the Queensland University of Technology and Diploma in Medical Ultrasound offered through ASUM.
The latest edition incorporates several features that update the second edition. Reading through the textbook, the most important update that stood out has been the incorporation of the latest guidelines on chamber quantification into the text. These guidelines, released in 2015, as a joint effort between the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) and the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI), contain a number of important differences from the previous iterations, particularly in terms of left ventricular wall thickness, left ventricular ejection fraction cut‐offs and left and right atrial measurements. A detailed review of the text and tables in the latest textbook shows that all these changes are incorporated and hence representative of the latest guidelines. The assessment of RV systolic function has also been expanded in line with the new guidelines.
Contemporary assessment of left ventricular function now incorporates newer technologies such as three‐dimensional echocardiography and left ventricular strain. In the latest textbook, there is an excellent chapter on strain, including both tissue Doppler‐based strain and speckle tracking, which was a pleasure to read in that complex concepts are explained in simple terms, the illustrations are extremely instructive and the coverage of this topic is comprehensive. Whilst the clinical applications of strain are not discussed in detail as it is clearly beyond of the scope of a textbook focussed on the ‘normal’ examinations, there is an excellent figure illustrating its value in cardiac amyloid and apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in chapter 14. Students will find this an ideal summary introduction to strain.
The chapter on the assessment of diastolic function presents a comprehensive approach to assessing diastolic function. Basic diastolic physiology is summarised in simple terms and again illustrates this textbooks’ ability to capture and explain complex processes in simple terms and in a short space. The parameters incorporated into the tables include the full suite of measures that are available for diastolic assessment, including pulmonary venous inflow and flow propagation velocity. The reader will find themselves fully versed with a comprehensive and multiparametric approach to diastology at the end of this chapter. There is also a short summary of the assessment of right ventricular diastolic function at the end of the chapter on diastolic function.
The textbook comes along with added Internet content and features, giving it a real web‐age dimension. Real‐time images of many of the illustrations in the textbook can be found online (www.echotext.com). The website is easily navigable, being organised according to the corresponding chapter, and the playback is of a high quality with excellent image definition. The images have to be read in conjunction with the figure legends in the textbook. The website contains a number of excellent presentations as well in a video format with Ms Anderson's voiceover on Cardiac Embryology, Cardiac Tamponade, Quantification of Valvular Regurgitation and Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy. File sizes are specified at the end of each presentation to help estimate loading times, and there is a promise of ongoing new content in the form of newer presentations in the future. There is also a link to email the author with questions incorporated into the website.
In addition to the major updates discussed above, the basic structure of this third edition remains essentially the same as older editions with chapter themes and topics remaining unchanged. Updated reference values for many of the chapters, especially for chamber dimensions as noted above, make this a more contemporary and up‐to‐date textbook. There are many new images, extra technical tips and clinical examples included in this edition.
In summary, the latest edition of this respected and seminal textbook provides a contemporary textbook with updated reference values, added content incorporating latest technological advances and a range of associated web content. In common with previous editions, it is thoroughly well organised and very readable. As a textbook aiming to provide a comprehensive coverage of topics relevant to the normal echocardiographic examination, it is a worthy successor to its previous editions, which were also excellent, and remains an essential textbook for all doctors and sonographers practising echocardiography.