Echocardiography
What is echocardiography?
Echocardiography, also called an echo, is a painless diagnostic procedure that uses ultrasound technology to create real-time images of your heart while it beats.
The images created by echocardiography tell the team at Advanced CardioHealth about the structure and function of your heart, including how well the cardiac valves and heart muscle are working, as well as how well the blood is flowing through each chamber of your heart.
Why would I need echocardiography?
The board-certified cardiologists at Advanced CardioHealth can review the specifics of why you would benefit from echocardiography during your consultation.
The noninvasive diagnostic test can be recommended if you’re experiencing symptoms that might indicate a heart problem. These symptoms can include chest pain, shortness of breath, and swelling in your legs.
Echocardiography could also be recommended to determine the cause of a heart murmur or arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat).
During the diagnostic test, your cardiologist evaluates the:
Size of your heart
Strength of your cardiac muscles
Function of your cardiac valves
Overall cardiac structure to look for abnormalities
Echocardiography can also find blood clots to assess your risk of having a stroke or heart attack, as well as diagnose heart problems like congenital defects, heart failure, and coronary artery disease.
What happens during echocardiography?
The team at Advanced CardioHealth performs your echocardiography in the office. The painless test usually takes less than an hour and requires no special preparation, unless you are otherwise directed by your heart doctor.
During the test, you’ll need to remove your shirt and put on an exam gown. Your echocardiography technician attaches electrodes to your chest, which are hooked up to an electrocardiogram to assess electrical activity in your heart.
Then your technician places a gel on your chest, which eases the movement of the transducer (ultrasound wand) and provides better images. The technician moves the transducer around your chest to generate real-time images of your heart that the technician and cardiologist view on a computer monitor.
No downtime is necessary following your echocardiography and your cardiac doctor will schedule a follow-up appointment to review the results of your test with you in detail.