What Does Echocardiography Show?
An echocardiography shows the size, structure, and
movement of the different parts of your heart, including the valves, the septum
(the wall separating the chambers on the right and left sides of the heart),
and the walls of the heart chambers. The Doppler ultrasound technique shows the
movement of blood through the heart.
Echocardiography can be used to:
- Diagnose heart problems
- Guide or determine next steps for treatment
- Monitor changes and improvement
- Determine the need for additional tests
Echocardiography can detect many different types of
heart problems. Some of these can be minor and pose no risk to you. Others can
be signs of serious heart disease or other heart problems. An echocardiography
can provide information on:
- The size of your heart. An enlarged heart can be
the result of
high
blood pressure, leaky heart valves, or
heart
failure.
- Heart muscles that are weak and arent
moving (pumping) properly. Weakened areas of heart muscle can be due to damage
from a
heart
attack. Or weakening could mean that the area isnt getting enough
blood supply, which can be due to
coronary
artery disease.
- Problems with your hearts valves.
Echocardiography can show whether any of the valves of your heart dont
open normally or dont form a complete seal when closed.
- Abnormalities in the structure of your heart.
Echocardiography can detect a variety of heart abnormalities, such as a hole in
the septum (the wall that separates the two chambers on the left side of the
heart from the two chambers on the right side) and other
congenital
heart defects (structural problems present at birth).
- The aorta. Echocardiography is commonly used to
assess and detect problems with the aorta such as
aneurysm
(abnormal bulge or ballooning in the wall of an artery).
- Blood clots or tumors. If you have had a stroke,
echocardiography might be done to check for blood clots or tumors that may have
caused it.
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