3D Visualization

One of the challenges of echocardiography is the visualization of a three dimensional structure with a two dimensional imaging modality. The heart, its valves, chambers, and great vessels sit on a tilted axis within the chest, rotated, and asymmetric. Furthermore, with transesophageal echocardiography, the probe is within the patient's esophagus or stomach, forcing the clinician to picture in the mind's eye the location and rotation of the ultrasound beam.

I was never very good with 3 dimensional visualization and construction. When I was little, I liked abstract math and numbers, not geometry. My toothpick-and-marshmallow bridges wobbled, and I never tried building a house of cards. So this is tough for me. But with online applications that allow the viewer to rotate models of the heart, apply labels, and take cross-sections, I'm slowly wrapping my head around everything.

Image is in the public domain, from Wikipedia.