Echo practice for ETP trainees

The visual skills behind a transthoracic report

• A report starts with impressions: is the LV impaired, which walls are abnormal, is the RV dilated, how significant is the mitral regurgitation? Measurements then confirm or refine them.
• Accreditation logbooks and assessments reward consistent judgement across many cases. Simulated cases with exact answers let you check that consistency far more often than real lists allow.
• Because every case is generated from a model of the heart, the answer is the true value, not one observer’s opinion, so you learn the threshold itself rather than someone’s habit.

What to practise

• LV function Calibrate visual EF across the BSE categories and grade regional wall motion on the 17-segment model, including the territories and patterns that cause most disagreement.
• Mitral valve Practise mitral regurgitation and stenosis, surgical repair, TEER clips and mechanical and bioprosthetic valves, with colour and CW Doppler.
• RV function Judge RV size, hypertrophy and systolic function, and distinguish pressure from volume overload by septal shape.
• Stress echo Get early exposure to dobutamine stress echo: grade every stage, find the ischaemic territory and recognise viability.

How to use it during the programme

• Use Learn mode to see how each pathology looks before you meet it on a list.
• Use Practice to test yourself on mixed cases, then the exam mode to check your level; a score of 90% or more earns a certificate of the level reached.
• Revisit your weak spots: the trainers track which categories and segments you miss most.
• Keep the simulators as extra practice. Your accreditation and assessments are based on real, supervised studies.

Guides

• LV pathology guides: wall motion and ejection fraction
• RV guides: function, size and septal flattening
• Stress echo guides: protocol, interpretation, viability and ECG

Questions