What is an Echoecardiography?

Echoecardiography or Echocardiogram, often referred to cardiac echo or simply an echo is an ultrasound or sonogram of the heart. (It is not abbreviated as ECG, which in medicine usually refers to an electrocardiogram.) Echocardiography uses standard two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and Doppler ultrasound to create images of the heart.

Echocardiography uses sound waves to create an image of the beating heart.

• Why is it done?
• What is done?
• How long does it take before the results are back?

Why is it done?

Echocardiography has become routinely used in the diagnosis, management, and follow-up of Patients with any suspected or known heart diseases. It is one of the most widely used diagnostic tests in cardiology. It can provide a wealth of helpful information, including the size and shape of the heart (internal chamber size quantification), pumping capacity, and the location and extent of any tissue or heart muscle damage. An Echocardiogram can also give physicians other estimates of heart function such as a calculation of the cardiac output, ejection fraction, and diastolic function (how well the heart relaxes).

In Intensive Care, an echo is usually ordered if the Intensive care doctors suspect a problem within the cardiovascular or haemodynamic system. However there may be a more general problem such as Shock.

An echo is able to detect:

• Structural abnormalities in the heart including the heart muscle and valves;
• Blood flow abnormalities
• Cardiac output (volume of blood pumped by the heart)
• Volume of blood in the heart.

Abnormal Conditions that can be identified include:

• Heart Attack(Acute Myocardial Infarction)
• Heart Failure
• Cardiomyopathy
• Cardiac Tamponade
• Aortic Valve Problems/Abnormalities
• Mitral Valve Problems/ Abnormalities
• Pericarditis
• Cardiogenic Shock
• Pulmonary Hypertension
• Blood Clots within the Heart
• Defects within the Heart Muscle

What is done?

Transthoracic echocardiogram

A standard ultrasound(echocardiogram) is also known as a transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE), or cardiac ultrasound. In this case, the echocardiography transducer (or probe) is placed on the chest wall (or thorax) of the Patient, and images are taken through the chest wall. Your loved one will have several electrodes to record heart rate applied to the chest and connected to the machine. A small amount of electrode gel is used to assist this. The echocardiography machine converts these impulses into a digital image of the moving heart. This is a non-invasive, highly accurate, risk free and quick assessment of the overall health of the heart.

Transesophageal echocardiogram(TOE/TEE)

This is an alternative way to perform an echocardiogram and it is a more invasive examination. A specialized probe that is in a long and flexible tube, containing an ultrasound transducer at its tip is passed into the Patient’s esophagus. This allows image and Doppler evaluation from a location directly behind the heart. This is known as a transœsophageal echocardiogram, or TOE (TEE in the United States). Transesophageal echocardiograms are most often utilized when transthoracic images are suboptimal and when a more clear and precise image is needed for assessment. This test is performed in the presence of a cardiologist, registered nurse, and ultrasound technician. Light sedation and/or localized numbing medication, may or may not be used in order to make your loved one more comfortable during the procedure.

What are the risks?

There are generally no risks to your loved one when undergoing trans thoracic echocardiography (TTE). A transosephageal echo (TOE) carries a minor risk as a light anaesthetic is given. This will be explained further by the doctor performing the test.

How long before the results are back?

Some Intensive Care doctors are also trained in echocardiography and will be able to interpret the echocardiogram immediately in emergency situations. If the situation is not an emergency the results will be available within a number of hours. The results will be discussed with you if there are significant problems.

Any Questions?

Of course, if you have any questions or concerns, please discuss them with the ICU nurses and doctors

All Intensive Care interventions and procedures carry a degree of potential risk even when performed by skilled and experienced staff. Please discuss these issues with the medical and nursing staff who are caring for your loved one.

The information contained on this page is general in nature and therefore cannot reflect individual patient variation. It is meant as a back up to specific information which will be discussed with you by the Doctors and Nurses caring for your loved one. INTENSIVE CARE HOTLINE attests to the accuracy of the information contained here BUT takes no responsibility for how it may apply to an individual Patient. Please refer to the full disclaimer.

Related articles:

• Six weeks in Intensive Care after Cardiac Surgery and my mother isn’t getting any better…
• How long does a cardiac arrest patient stay in Intensive Care?
• How long can a breathing tube or an endotracheal tube can stay in?
• How long should a Patient be on a ventilator before having a Tracheostomy?
• How long is a Patient kept on a BIPAP machine in Intensive Care?
• What is an induced coma and why is my critically ill loved one in an induced coma?
• The 3 most dangerous mistakes that you are making but you are unaware of, if your loved one is a critically ill Patient in Intensive Care
• How to always achieve your goals whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care
• Why you must make up your own mind about your critically ill loved one’s situation in Intensive Care even if you’re not a doctor or a nurse!
• Follow this proven 5 step process on how to be in control and influential if your loved one is a long-term Patient in Intensive Care
• How to quickly take control and have real power and influence if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care
• Why does my loved one need a Tracheostomy in Intensive Care?
• Tracheostomy and weaning off the ventilator in Intensive Care, how long can it take?
• My sister has been in ICU for 21 weeks with Tracheostomy and still ventilated. What do we need to do?
• Severe lung failure and my aunty is not expected to survive…
• Be more selfish if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care
• 3 quick steps on how to position and prepare yourself well mentally, whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care
• How to get what you want whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care
• 5 steps to become a better negotiator if your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care
• 5 Ways to have control, power and influence while your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care
• How to make sure that your values and beliefs are known whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care
• How to make sure that “what you see is always what you get” whilst your loved one is critically ill in Intensive Care
• What the doctors and the nurses behaviour in Intensive Care is telling you about the culture in a unit
• How long does it take to wake up from a Traumatic brain injury or severe head injury
• How to take control if your loved one has a severe brain injury and is critically ill in Intensive Care
• Family Meetings in Intensive Care or the Elephant in the Room
• What you need to do if your loved one is dying in Intensive Care(part one)
• What you need to do if your loved one is dying in Intensive Care(part two)
• Intensive Care at its best?
• How INTENSIVECAREHOTLINE.COM Can Help You
• What you and your Family need to do if your critically ill loved one is very sick in Intensive Care and faces an uncertain future
• How long can somebody stay in Intensive Care?
• My Family can’t agree on what’s best for my sister in Intensive Care…Help!
• My husband is dying in Intensive Care, but we need more time…
• My mother sustained serious brain damage after a stroke and she now is in multi- organ failure