Three-dimensional echocardiography is the most recent fundamental advancement in echocardiography with a strong impact on almost all clinical and research applications of echocardiography.

After a very successful 1 st edition, this book presents the fully revised 2 nd edition. Accounting for the marked progress of real-time 3D echocardiography since the 1 st edition it covers all clinically important aspects of this fascinating new technology, including a comprehensive explanation of its basic principles, practical aspects of clinical application, new recommendations in recent guidelines and detailed descriptions of specific uses in the broad spectrum of clinically important heart disease.

The book was written by a group of well-recognized international experts in the field, who have not only been involved in scientific and clinical evolution of 3D echocardiography since its beginnings but are also intensely involved in expert training courses. As a result, the clear focus of this book is on the practical application of 3D echocardiography in daily clinical routine with tips and tricks for both beginners and experts, all accompanied by more than 150 case examples comprehensively illustrated with more than 850 images and more than 500 videos available on a DVD.

In concert with an in-depth review and comprehensive update of the most recent literature on real-time 3D echocardiography, this book continues to represent an invaluable reference on 3D echocardiography for beginners and expert users.

Die Herausgeber

Thomas Buck, MD, FACC, FESC
Thomas Buck is Associate Professor of Medicine and Cardiology at the University Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Since 2014, he is Director of the Department of Cardiology of the Klinikum Westfalen in Dortmund, Germany. Prior to this at the University Hospital Essen, he held the position of Director of Echocardiography Laboratories as well as the appointments of Chief Consultant and Assistant Director of the Department of Cardiology at the West German Heart Center. Since the beginning of his academic career in 1992, 3D echocardiography has been a major field of his scientific interest. One of his primary clinical areas of expertise is the management of heart valve disease patients, where his early scientific work was stimulated while working as a Research Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA. As one of his official assignments, he was the Chair of the German Working Group of Echocardiography from 2005-2011. In addition to a considerable number of scientific articles and clinical guidelines, his work includes several teaching book contributions and international patents in the field of echocardiography. Since the introduction of real-time 3D echocardiography into clinical practice, he has regularly organized national and international training courses as an expert trainer.

Andreas Franke, MD, FESC
Andreas Franke is Associate Professor of Medicine and Cardiology and Director of the Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine of the Klinikum Siloah in Hannover, Germany. During his clinical and academic career starting in 1988 at the RWTH Technical University Aachen, Germany, echocardiography and congenital heart disease in adults have been his main fields of scientific interest and work. His primary clinical areas of expertise besides non-invasive cardiac imaging are the interventional therapy of coronary artery disease and the management of valvular disease. Since the early 1990s, he has been involved in further development of 3D echocardiography and has published numerous clinical studies on the topic. Between 1998 and 2001, he was a nucleus member of the Working Group on Echocardiography of the ESC as an organizer of the subgroup 3D echocardiography. Over the last 15 years, he also contributed to several textbooks and atlases on echocardiography. Moreover, since 2003 he regularly organizes national real-time 3D echocardiographic training courses as