Echocardiography is a medical technique used to assess the heart and its structures. An echocardiogram can be performed at rest or while performing specific tasks, such as exercise, and is widely used in both diagnoses and monitoring various cardiac diseases.
This article will discuss three things you need to know about echocardiography: what it does, how often it should be done, and when echocardiography may not provide enough information for diagnosis.
1) What echocardiography does: Echocardiography provides images of the heart by using sound waves projected through tissues during an echocardiogram procedure.
2) How often should echocardiography be done: echocardiograms can be performed at rest or while performing specific tasks, such as exercise.
3) When echocardiography may not provide enough information for diagnosis: echocardiograms can be used as a first step to diagnose, or confirm the presence of, various conditions. However, an echocardiogram does not always result in a clear and accurate image of the heart’s structures and functions.
Echocardiograms can be used to diagnose many conditions affecting the heart. Echocardiography is painless and considered a safe procedure that does not have any side effects. Echocardiogram results are available immediately, so patients do not need to wait long periods before they get back diagnosis results from their doctor.