Echocardiography Lab: Information for Patients

Echocardiography (also called an ECHO or an echocardiogram) is one of the key tools we use at DHMC for diagnosing heart disease in both men and women.

Echocardiography is a non-invasive procedure that uses ultrasound to produce real-time images of the heart's motion. These images are saved for viewing later on a monitor. Ultrasound sends high-frequency sound waves through a transducer; the waves are then reflected (echoed) off the various structures of the heart.

These images can reveal crucial information about your heart's condition to your cardiologist. Echocardiography can help a doctor evaluate whether the heart chambers are of normal size and the heart walls of normal thickness. Areas of poor blood flow in the heart or any area of heart muscle that is not contracting normally can also be determined from an echocardiogram. A cardiologist will examine the test results for any previous injury to the heart muscle caused by impaired blood flow, or evidence of congestive heart failure or a possible heart attack.

ECHO can also identify congenital heart defects, which are heart defects that have been present since birth.

At DHMC, we have different types of echocardiography available for testing different conditions: Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), Dobutamine Stress echocardiography, and Exercise Echo Test (Treadmill and Bicycle).

Echocardiography is a painless procedure and has no known risks associated with it. Read more about echocardiography, how to prepare for it, how it's done and what it feels like, as well as associated risks and test results.

Learn more about echocardiography by downloading or viewing some of these on-line brochures. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader in order view them.

• Patient Guide to Echocardiography
• Patient Guide to Dobutamine Stress Echo
• Patient Guide to Stress Echo