الفهرس 
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Abstract
One of the most commonly used non-invasive cardiac imaging techniques - two-dimensional (2D) echocardiography – allows the viewing of multiple cross-sections of cardiac structures. However, due to the limited number of echocardiographic windows, it may be impossible to obtain a desired cross-section of the heart in any given plane. This limitation may hinder proper assessment of cardiac morphology and function, mainly because such analysis requires tedious mental processes leading to the reconstruction of spatial relationships within the heart, based solely on a limited number of 2D cross-sections. Such mental reconstruction may be extremely difficult in cases of complex abnormal cardiac morphology. Moreover, volume measurements, which are required during the evaluation of cardiac function, necessitate introduction of far-fetched assumptions considering the geometry of heart structures. However, these limitations may be overcome by implementation of a novel technique – three dimensional (3D) echocardiography (Lipiec p et al., 2005).
Three-dimensional echocardiography has emerged as a valuable tool in the diagnosis of children and adults with congenital heart disease. It provides the clinician with new insight into cardiac anatomy and function in vivo, allowing visualization of intra-cardiac structures in a dynamic way, that even the surgeon cannot obtain intra-operatively. It is particularly attractive in children, as the information takes only seconds to obtain, but may be processed at leisure away from the bedside, which means that additional information is available from a study that takes a shorter time. However, its applications in clinical decision-making have not yet been fully explored or validated. Our project investigates how 3D echocardiography may provide new information and insights, and may remove the requirement for invasive investigations (Bharucha T et al., 2008).