tomography correlations

had computerised tomography of their hearts which showed the extra echo spaces to be caused either by anterior or posterior subepicardial fat. Six of the 50 cases had both fat and pericardial effusions, which are difficult to differentiate echocardiographically unless follow-up clinical observations are performed. Subepicardial fat deposits are reasonable explanations for the extra echo spaces fre-quently observed by echocardiography: they correlate well with clinical findings. Subepicardial fat should be recognised as the cause of such extra echo spaces. Echocardiography has contributed to the clinical diagnosis of pericardial effusions ever since the latter were quantitatively evaluated according to the sizes and characteristics of their "echo-free spaces".1 It was also postulated that, in some cases, small amounts of pericardial fluid could be detected by echocardiogra-phy, even fluid in physiological quantities in normal subjects. Is echocardiography sufficiently sensitive to detect such small amounts of pericardial fluid? Ca