A Star Wars-twist on diagnostic heart imaging or echos may not be so far, far away.
 
Last month, New York’s Mt. Sinai Hospital’s director of cardiac ultrasound research, Dr. Partho Sengupta, presented a lecture during the 24th annual meeting for American Society of Echocardiography in which he incorporated a conversation with a holographic image of James Seward, the retired former director of echocardiography at the Mayo Clinic.
 
A Forbes online article likened the interactive talk to “Princess Leia’s holographic plea for help from Obi Wan Kenobi.”
 
The technology-packed lecture was intended to “illustrate the latest technology and future applications of functional echocardiography to more precisely analyze the structure, function and flow patterns of the cardiovascular system,” according to the Mt. Sinai press release.
 
For tips on coding the traditional echocardiograms, turn to Cardiology Coder’s Pink Sheet.