Functional echocardiography and its clinical applications in neonatology

Abstract

Functional echocardiography emerges as a clinical tool for the comprehensive clinical evaluation to assess the patient’s hemodynamic status, after demonstrating that the clinical methods traditionally used in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit are limited and often applied late. This allows us to establish a more accurate hemodynamic diagnosis and thus improve neonatal morbidity and mortality, since it allows making recommendations based on physiology, resulting in a rational and individualized treatment plan. There are scenarios where its usefulness has been seen, such as the inadequate transition of the very low birth weight newborn, hemodynamic instability, assessment of Patent Ductus Arteriosus and its hemodynamic repercussion, and pulmonary hypertension. This review updates information on the usefulness of functional echocardiography in the neonatal intensive care unit and the clinical settings where its use is recommended.