RESUMO
This paper introduces a new clinical distortion index able to measure the decrease in diagnostic content in compressed echocardiograms. It is calculated using cardiologists' answers to a clinical testbed composed of two types of tests: one blind and the other semi-blind. This index may be used to compare clinical performance among video codecs from a clinical perspective. It can also be used to classify compression rates into useful and useless ranges, thus providing recommendations for echocardiogram compression. A study carried out in order to illustrate its use with Xvid video codec is also presented. The results obtained showed that, for 2D and M modes, the transmission rate should be at least 768 kbit s(-1) and for color Doppler mode and pulsed/continuous Doppler, 256 kbit s(-1).