Echocardiography in congenital heart disease.

It has been demonstrated that echocardiography is a useful and accurate noninvasive technique for the study of congenital cardiovascular diseases. This method provides significant information in that invasive cardiac catheterization and angiocardiography can be planned with greater facility. This is especially important in severely ill babies in whom invasive diagnostic methods are risky. It is particularly attractive in neonates in whom the clinical differentiation of lethal heart disease from septic shock is difficult, since in the latter situation the echographic findings are normal.