New horizon of fusion imaging using echocardiography: its progress in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease

Cardiac imaging modalities are essential for the management of cardiac diseases. Multimodality imaging, such as echocardiography, cardiac computed tomography (CT), cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, and fluoroscopy, is required for assessing cardiac condition. In recent years, fusion imaging, which integrates different imaging modalities on the same screen, has been developed. Because the fusion imaging is able to merge the advantages of each modality, it has the potential to be valuable for accurate diagnosis as well as the planning of therapeutic strategies. In the clinical setting, the fusion imaging of real-time transthoracic echocardiography with cardiac CT displayed side by side has reportedly been effective for the diagnosis and the assessment of disease severity in patients with adult congenital heart disease. The overlay of real-time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography onto fluoroscopy, which is dynamic fusion imaging, has been used for structural heart disease interventions. The fusion imaging has become increasingly important in the field of cardiac diseases. This review discusses the benefits of echocardiographic fusion imaging.