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What Can I Expect During An Echocardiogram
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Often when you visit a Cardiologist, your doctor suggests you for
echocardiography of your heart. It is basically the ultrasound of Heart to diagnose various
diseases of heart. With the help of sound waves moving picture of heart can be taken.
What can I expect during an echocardiogram?
Echo is a painless and simple procedure without involvement of any radiations. There are no known
hazards or risks associated with echocardiography. When you are going to echo room, you will be
asked to lie down on a bed and disrobe from the waist up. Doctor or echocardiographer will place
electrode on your chest to record ECG during echocardiography. Small amount of gel is applied on
your chest and then a small transducer will be placed near the sternum on your chest. Transducer
produces sound waves towards the heart.
Echocardiographer may apply some pressure during echo on your chest with
transducer. You may be asked to turn your side to left or right depending upon your technician
position. You may be asked to hold your breath to take high quality pictures. Then technician will
move transducer to different parts of chest to take picture of heart from different angles.
Sometimes a dye may be injected before taking echo, as occasionally lungs ribs body tissue prevents
sound waves to reach heart muscles. If your heart beat is too fast, then echo may give false
result, so echo is avoided in fast tachycardia. A typical echo is performed in about 30-45 minutes.
If you have a lung disease, obesity, restlessness or breathlessness, may result in longer test
duration. During test, printed pictures are taken by technician from echo machine and later
examined by a cardiologist.
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What an echocardiogram reveals? What are uses of
echocardiography?
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Echocardiography can reveal many abnormalities of heart. For detail you may read my article" Who
should have an Echocardiography". Some abnormalities are minor and have no significant risk;
however some problems are very serious that will require further assessment and evaluation by heart
specialist. Abnormalities can be of wall of heart, Valves, or Pericardium (Thin layer around
heart). Echo can reveal big heart size, thickened walls of heart muscles, valvular regurgitation or
stenosis, infection or rheumatic fever, thickened, calcified, torn valve, prosthetic or artificial
valve function evaluation, congenital abnormalities, tumors or thrombus. Echo can also reveal
pumping function of heart which is very important factor for evaluating and treating a patient of
heart attack. Echocardiograms are useful in diagnosing fluid in the pericardium, a thin layer that
surrounds the heart, so diagnose a very serious emergency like cardiac temponade, also use-full in
recording pressures in heart chambers and pulmonary artery. In short echocardiography is a miracle
in the field of cardiology diagnostic tests.
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