echocardiography

[‚ek·ō‚kärd·ē′äg·rə·fē]

(medicine)

A diagnostic technique for the heart that uses a transducer held against the chest to send high-frequency sound waves which pass harmlessly into the heart; as they strike structures within the heart, they are reflected back to the transducer and recorded on an oscilloscope.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Echocardiography

a method of examining the heart by means of ultrasound. Echocardiography is based on the recording of ultrasonic waves reflected from the surfaces of heart structures differing in density. Under normal conditions, curves are recorded successively from the walls of the aorta and left atrium, the anterior and posterior cusps of the mitral valve, the interventricular septum, and the posterior wall of the left ventricle.

Echocardiography is used to diagnose acquired and, to a lesser extent, congenital valvular diseases. It helps determine the condition of the cusps and the extent of narrowing of the valve openings; it identifies defects in the septa, large transposed blood vessels, and hypoplasia. Echocardiology is also used to diagnose pericarditis with effusion, tumors, and other abnormal conditions. The procedure is used to measure the volume, wall thickness, and mass of the muscular layer of the left ventricle; the stroke volume; and some other parameters of the blood circulation. By combining echocardiography and ultrasonic scanning one can obtain successive images of heart structures that reflect their dynamics during systole and diastole.

REFERENCE

Kardiologiia, 1974, no. 1, pp. 82–86; 1976, no. 6, pp. 15–25.

N. M. MUKHARLIAMOV

Mentioned in

Nonlinear Acoustics

References in periodicals archive

Pacho et al., "Noninvasive diagnosis of suspected severe pulmonary embolism: Transesophageal echocardiography vs spiral CT," CHEST, vol.

Diagnosis and Thrombolytic Management of Massive Intraoperative Pulmonary Embolism Guided by Point of Care Transthoracic Echocardiography

For approximately 30 years transthoracic echocardiography has been considered the primary method for diagnosis and management of dogs and cats with cardiovascular disease (CHETBOUL, 2010).

Use of focus assessed transthoracic echocardiography (FATE) in the veterinary emergency room/Aplicabilidade da avaliacao ecocardiografica transtoracica focada (FATE) na sala de emergencia veterinaria

Nineteen patients (73.1%) underwent serial postoperative echocardiography during follow-up (median follow-up of 40 months; range: 3 months to 8 years).

Surgical Outcomes of Anomalous Origin of the Left Coronary Artery from the Pulmonary Artery in Children: An Echocardiography Follow-up

Usually LHAS remains asymptomatic and represents an incidental finding on echocardiography. Furthermore, it can be mistaken for other benign or malignant cardiac tumors leading to unwarranted radical surgical resection [19, 20].

Lipomatous Hypertrophy of the Atrial Septum in a Patient Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery

"I think this study will reach a wide cardiology and medical audience, where it will hopefully provide reassurance that echocardiography is not being overused, and will remind clinicians and patients that it is an important diagnostic tool to include in their medical evaluation," she says.

Echocardiography plays a key role in diagnosing heart disease

major vessel anterior to RVOT), additional VSD and PDA; which were evaluated on echocardiography, invasive angiocardiography and CT were compared to intraoperative findings.

Accuracy of different imaging modalities prior to biventricular repair in Tetralogy of Fallot

Patients underwent a transthoracic echocardiography (Siemens, Sequoia, C256; Mountainview, CA, USA; and matrix iE33, Philips, The Netherlands) using a 2.3-3.5 MHz transducer.

Subclinical biventricular systolic dysfunction in patients with systemic sclerosis

A constant monitoring was done during the placement of ASD device with 2D Echocardiography (either trans-thoracic or transesophageal) and fluoroscopy.

EXPERIENCE OF ATRIAL SEPTAL DEFECT DEVICE CLOSURE IN PATIENTS MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS OF AGE

KEYWORDS: Total anomalous pulmonary venous return, Echocardiography, Computed tomographic angiography, Heterotaxy.

Accuracy of echocardiography in diagnosing total anomalous pulmonary venous return

The strain (S) echocardiography was developed because of the limitations of the tissue Doppler imaging, including the inability to distinguish between the active and passive wall motion (tethering effect) and the influence on the peak velocity measures of the heart's rotational motions.

Evaluating the Association Between the Three Different Ejection Fraction Measurement Techniques and Left Ventricle Global Strain

Parasternal long axis and four-chamber images in the echocardiography showed aortic dissection and compression of the left atrium and the left ventricle caused due to an aneurysm when the patient was evaluated for the first time (Figure 1a).

Rare Case of Both Left Atrial and Ventricular Compression by Dissecting Aortic Aneurysm