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Best echocardiography resources for beginners

Echocardiography has come a long way since the first echocardiogram by Swedish physician Inge Edler in 1953. Today, echocardiography is a complex and multi-faceted science where entire textbooks are needed to cover only a subtopic. This daunting mass of knowledge can be overwhelming to someone who’s only just taking their first steps into the world of echocardiography.

But don’t let that intimidate you. Anything can be made easy if you break it up and take it one step at a time. In this post we’ve assembled a list of resources for the beginner echocardiographer that can supplement VirtualEcho and get you up and running in no time at all. We’ve divided the list into sections, and even pointed out which resources are free and which are paid.

We’re continuously working on this list to make sure it’s up to date. If there’s a useful resource you think we missed, please contact us.

Introduction to echocardiography:

Start out with these resources to gain a background of echocardiography before you start practical work.

Virtual Echocardiography:

When you’ve built your theoretical background, it’s time to start putting your knowledge to practice.

  • VirtualEcho (of course!): our very own unique echocardiography simulator, the only one which lets you handle the virtual probe yourself. (FREE trial version, paid Pro version).
  • University of Toronto PIE (FREE): one of the most widely used online echocardiography resources. They have both TTE and TEE modules.
  • MyEchocardiography.com: An online simulator to learn echocardiography measurements.

Echocardiography courses:

Now that you know how to do echocardiography, take it to the next level with these structured and certified echocardiography courses:

Echocardiography mobile apps:

Echocardiography on-the-go!

  • The University of Toronto’s Standard Echo Views app (PAID): from the team behind the PIE website listed above. Available for iOS only, with separate apps for TTE and TEE.
  • EchoCalc (FREE): an awesome echo calculator app by the British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) which lets you check normal values and calculate dozens of complicated echocardiography formulas just by inputting the measurements. Available for both Android and iOS.
  • EchoSource (PAID): a mobile echocardiography reference, simple and beginner friendly, with pictures and videos. Think of it as a mobile textbook. Available for both Android and iOS.
  • Cardio3 Echo (PAID, free lite version for iOS): a comprehensive echocardiography atlas. Available for both Android and iOS.

Echocardiography books:

Call me old fashioned, but there’s nothing like a good ol’ textbook. There are a lot of great echocardiography books out there; here are some of the best in my opinion (all paid of course):

  • Echo made easy, by Sam Kaddoura: A great book for the absolute beginner. Small, concise, very easy to follow with lots of pictures. This book saved my life back when I was a resident.
  • The Echo Manual: One of the most respected textbooks on the subject of echocardiography. Written by recognized authorities at Mayo Clinic, it offers an in-depth yet reader-friendly approach to echocardiography.
  • Feigenbaum’s Echocardiography: Another popular favorite, comes with a superb DVD atlas.
  • Essential Echocardiography, by Scott D Solomon: A personal favorite of mine, which I actually referred to while creating the TEE tutorial video. Simple, graphic, also comes with a DVD atlas.

That about wraps it up. If you need help, have any questions, or if you think this page is missing a useful resource for beginners, please drop us a line.

Happy Learning!