March 2005

After years of development, standardization, and relatively slow implementation, the echocardiography world should now fully embrace all-digital storage and analysis. For those laboratories that have made the transition, the advantages of digital echocardiography are all too obvious, with improved efficiency, quality, and clinical service provided to their referring physicians. However, despite the feasibility and advantage of digital echocardiography, a recent review of the Laboratory Data Project of the American Society of Echocardiography revealed that only a small minority of echocardiography laboratories currently consider themselves predominately digital in their data handling. For those laboratories still waiting to convert, we hope that this document will provide both the information and the impetus to move them into the all-digital era. This document represents the official publication from the Digital Echocardiography Committee of the American Society of Echocardiography. This report will outline some of the historical and technical background of digital echocardiography, address implementation issues for both physicians and sonographers, and introduce concepts beyond mere digital-image storage, such as structured reporting and integration with hospital databases.