If your cardiologist or primary care doctor has ordered an echocardiogram, don’t get frightened – it’s not as intimidating as it might sound. Called an “echo test” for short, it’s a painless test that’s noninvasive and doesn’t use ionizing radiation.
This test help cardiologist to diagnose and treat the heart disease accurately. We have gathered few frequently asked questions.
The ultrasound images are taken by a technician known as a sonographer. The sonographer will ask you to undress from the waist up and lay on your left side on a special bed.
The sonographer will move a wand over your chest. This wand sends sound waves through your body and uses the echoes of those sound waves to create the images of your heart.
Echo contrast is a liquid that reflects ultrasound waves. Echo contrast creates tiny bubbles in your bloodstream that disappear within a few minutes. The most common side effect of echo contrast is back pain shortly after it enters the body. Again this happens to very small number of patients.
The ultrasound images received by the echo test are reviewed by a cardiologist. The cardiologist makes a report and discusses the results with you.
Yes. It doesn’t expose you to radiation.
Yes. The technology used for echocardiograms changes frequently. It’s best to get your echocardiogram at a hospital that has the most up-to-date equipment available.
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