Echocardiography in congenital heart disease. An aid to surgical diagnosis.

Echocardiography is an important noninvasive method for accurately diagnosing many congenital cardiac defects. This method provides significant information so that cardiac surgery, when necessary, can be planned with greater facility. The value of the sonar method rests not only on its ability to diagnose specific cardiac defects but also to exclude heart disease, especially in infants with shock or cyanosis from noncardiac causes. Development of two-dimensional real-time scanning systems should provide greater understanding of anatomic spatial relationships and ease of diagnosis.