An echocardiography Sydney is an ultrasound examination to show how your heart muscles and valves are working. Sound waves produce moving images related to your heart so that your doctor can see its size and shape. You may hear them call it “echo” for short. Echocardiography is an advanced technique to detect any problem or issue with your heart. Therefore, if you are having some issues related to your heart, you should visit a cardiologist so that you can get a perfect treatment on time.
Why Do I Need an Echocardiogram?
Your doctor may order an echocardiogram to:
- Look at heart disease
- Monitor heart valve disease over time
- See how effective treatment or surgery can be
If you visit your doctor for chest pain or respiratory problems and your heart complaints are severe, you may be asked to do an echocardiogram. It is a diagnostic and examining tool for patients who usually experience heart problems. This test can reveal a lot of information about your heart and cardiovascular health.
An echocardiogram produces a picture of your heart using sound waves. So, it is a heart ultrasound. A doctor can detect unusual diseases and ailments that affect your heart and need treatment.
Benefits Of Echocardiogram
-
Diagnosis and Abnormalities
An echocardiogram gives your doctor all the information they need to determine if you have a severe heart condition. An echocardiogram can monitor heart function and detect and track the progression of heart disease and coronary heart disease. It can help detect cardiomyopathy, congenital heart disease, atherosclerosis, and heart tumors. Patients with heart valve problems that are still considered soft or small need regular monitoring if they become overweight or obese. If left unchecked, heart problems can lead to heart disease, stroke, or seizures.
-
Little Risks
Unlike diagnostic procedures that use radiation to produce results, there are no risks involved in echocardiograms. Non-invasive testing means you do not have to deal with pain and open wound problems.
During a transthoracic echocardiogram, you can expect a little discomfort, but no risk is involved in the process. With a transesophageal echocardiogram, you may have a sore throat, which usually disappears in a few hours. During a stress echocardiogram, you will be asked to do tests to make your heart beat faster. You may experience a rapid heartbeat, but a heart attack or other complication during a stress echocardiogram is rare.
-
Monitoring the Safety and Success of Treatment
It is also used to detect disease and the effectiveness of treatment or surgery. For example, following a heart surgery that involves placing tubes in your arteries, echocardiography Sydney is used to monitor. Also, patients who have suffered from heart failure benefit from regular monitoring with echocardiography. Echocardiograms are also used to regularly monitor patients that are treated for cancer when cardiotoxicity is at risk.
What Do The Echocardiogram Results Show?
An echocardiogram can help your doctor identify several types of heart problems, including:
- Enlarged heart or thicker ventricles (lower chambers)
- Weak heart muscle
- Problems with the valves of your heart
- Heart problems you have had since birth
- Blood clots or tumors