Echocardiographic evaluation of the mitral valve.

In its developing years and during the esthetically unappealing polaroid era, echocardiography was employed, in parallel, with invasive studies. Its worth was being scrutinized; it had to be tested and verified. Although the technology continues to advance, with real-time imaging still to be refined, single-element M-mode echo, displayed as a strip chart recorder, should be allowed to stand on its own and to replace invasive studies in most patients with valve disease. More can be learned about valve function, and as much about ventricular function, from the echo than from catheterization and angiography.