Introduction Currently, congenital heart anomalies are the most common anomalies at birth with the incidence rate 8 to 10 per 1000 live births. Fetal heart is small and mobile. The placement of embryos in uterus does not always allow us to take standard images. So, we are faced with an immense variety of images that make it difficult to interpret the abnormal form normal situations (especially in Axis off images). Fetal heart Echocardiography is a method to diagnose congenital heart disorders and helps us check fetal heart structure and detect many of the major disorders before birth. The best time for fetal Echocardiography is 18 to 24 weeks of gestational age. It can be carried out from the14th week if there is Echocardiography device with high sensitivity and accuracy as well as enough experience. Conclusion The identification and diagnosis of accompanied syndromes, fetal treatments start, the decision to terminate or continue pregnancy, and emotional support of the mother are among the cases that remark the significance of the diagnosis of fetal anomalies.

Background: Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune mediated gluten sensitive enteropathy and cardiac involvement in CD children is frequent. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate cardiac involvements in patients with celiac disease by using Doppler Tissue Echocardiography and conventional Echocardiography to identify myocardial dysfunctions in celiac patients compared to healthy individuals. Patients and Methods: This case-control and approved study was performed on 120 children with celiac disease and 60 healthy children aged 1-18 years old in a single center. Patients with valvular disease, rhythm abnormality, CHD, malignancy, systemic inflammatory diseases, diabetes mellitus, renal insufficiency, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension were excluded from the study. The participants underwent Echocardiography. Data were analyzed through SPSS 17 using Student’ s t-test and Mann-Whitney U. A P value of < 0. 05 was considered as significant. Results: Out of 120 patients with celiac, 55. 83% were females and for the control group it was 43. 33%. The participants in the case and control groups were matched for sex and age. Weight and height showed significant differences between the groups. Right ejection time had significant mean differences of 245. 30 ± 24. 60 and 253 ± 22. 66 for the case and control groups respectively with the t =-2. 03 and P = 0. 044. Similar trends were observed for the left myocardial performance index by DTE with a mean of 0. 79 ± 0. 12 and 0. 72 ± 0. 12 for the case and control groups, respectively (t-3. 32, P = 0. 001). QT and heart rate by ECG and ET, IRT and MPI by DTE had significant differences in the case and control groups. LA in diastole and LVM and Peak A velocity had significant differences in both groups. ET, ICT, and IRT revealed significant differences in the case and control groups. Conclusions: Consistent with many study’ s results, we reached the conclusion that Doppler Tissue Echocardiography and Conventional Echocardiography are good determination methods of systolic and diastolic myocardial functions in patients with celiac disease. Between these two methods, the present study confirmed the importance and strong power for Doppler Tissue Echocardiography.

Evaluation of embolic stroke mechanism is an important diagnostic step in approaching patients with ischemic stroke (IS). Cardiogenic embolism has been estimated to be the causative factor in 15-30 percent of all IS; and near to 30% of patients with IS, are also embolic stroke undetermined source (ESUS). Various cardiac disorders including arrhythmias (atrial fibrillation), ventricular and arterial thrombus, valvular heart disease, cardiac tumors, endocarditis, structural atrial and ventricular defects, and atrial and ventricular cardiomyopathies can cause cardioembolic stroke. Although the aortic arch is not a cardiac structure, it is usually evaluated under source of cardiac. Transthoracic and transesophageal Echocardiography are widely used diagnostic modalities for evaluation, diagnosis, and management of embolic stroke and ESUS, systemic and pulmonary embolism. This article reviews potential high-and low-risk cardiac sources of stroke, and discusses the role of both types of Echocardiography in clinical practice.

Background- Stroke is one of the most common causes of death and an important ‎cause of disability. Detection and correct diagnosis of the source of emboli influences ‎our recommendations and therapeutic outcome. There have been concerns regarding ‎the routine use of transesophageal Echocardiography (TEE) in these patients. This ‎study examined the preference of TEE over transthoracic Echocardiography (TTE) in ‎the detection of cardiac embolic sources in patients suffering ischemic stroke.‎ Methods- The study population comprised 50 consecutive patients referred to the ‎Echocardiography laboratories for TEE with a diagnosis of stroke or transient ‎ischemic attack from Sep. 2001 through Nov. 2002. All the patients underwent both ‎TTE and TEE. ‎ Results- There were 26 men and 24 women with a mean age of 40 ± 11.8 years. ‎Forty-three patients (86%) were in sinus rhythm and 7 (14%) in atrial fibrillation. ‎With TTE data, we were able to detect embolic sources with cardiac origin in 9 (18%) ‎patients. When we added TEE examination, we found cardiac embolic sources in a ‎further 17 (34%) patients. Finally, with TEE added to TTE, the total number of these ‎patients rose from 9 to 26 (52%). This means TEE has significantly greater sensitivity ‎than TTE in the detection of cardiac embolic sources in patients with ischemic ‎stroke‏.‏‎‎ Conclusions- The present study suggests that the type of embolic source detectable by ‎TEE may not reasonably be predicted on the basis of TTE findings; therefore, for the ‎detection of embolic sources, TEE is preferred to TTE (Iranian Heart Journal 2003; 4 ‎‎(2,3):4349).‎

Echocardiography is a non-invasive diagnostic technique which provides information on cardiac morphology, function, and hemodynamics. It is the most frequently used cardiovascular diagnostic test only after electrocardiography. In less than five decades, the evolution in this technique has made it the basic part of cardiovascular medicine. Herein, the evolution of various forms of Echocardiography is briefly described.