Reflections on Australian critical care echocardiography

Abstract

The four authors of this article share a combined century of experience in critical care echocardiography (CCE). Having seen its birth, adolescence and subsequent maturity, it is with considerable interest that we anticipate further evolution of its everyday clinical application, and can only guess at how the next generation’s energy and interests will be directed. Trained to intervene when a patient’s physiology becomes unstable, intensivists search for effective strategies to tackle acute problems while simultaneously considering complex underlying chronic ailments. Echocardiography is a valuable tool for the diagnosis and monitoring of a patient’s response, or perhaps lack of response, to our interventions. The evolution of critical care echocardiography from being an outcast to that of a mainstream “darling” over the past 30 years led us to give a personal perspective on this journey.