Echocardiography

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What is Echocardiography?

An echocardiogram or ‘echo’ is an ultrasound of your heart. An echocardiogram uses sound waves to take images of the heart’s structure and function, including looking at any damage sustained from a heart attack, reasons behind chest pain and how your heart valves are working.

Preparing for your examination

Echocardiography at Cooroy Radiology

Our echocardiography services are enhanced by the Philips EPIQ Elite ultrasound system with the specialised strain imaging package, providing a new level of precision and insight in cardiac imaging. This advanced system is beneficial for patients undergoing chemotherapy, monitoring heart health is essential, as certain treatments can impact cardiac function. Strain imaging is a highly sensitive tool for detecting subtle changes in heart muscle function, often before traditional methods reveal any impact, allowing for proactive cardiac care.

Preparing for your examination

Our team will provide any specific instructions at the time of booking and these should be followed carefully. We recommend wearing a separate top and bottoms during your appointment as this makes changing for the examination easier. Please don’t apply any body lotion or sunscreen to your chest before the appointment as we need to apply ECG patches. If you’re pregnant please let the technician know.

Reasons for Echocardiography

An echocardiogram is a non-invasive, detailed ultrasound of the heart that provides crucial insights into heart structure and function. Common reasons for ordering an echocardiogram include:

Evaluating Heart Function: To assess how well the heart is pumping blood, especially after a heart attack or in cases of heart failure.
Diagnosing Heart Disease: To detect conditions like valve disorders, cardiomyopathy, and other structural abnormalities that affect heart health.
Assessing Cardiac Symptoms: For symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, or palpitations, an echocardiogram can help determine if heart issues are the underlying cause.
Monitoring Cardiac Conditions: For patients with known heart disease, an echocardiogram can track changes over time and evaluate treatment effectiveness.
Chemotherapy Heart Monitoring: For patients undergoing chemotherapy, strain imaging with echocardiography can detect early signs of heart damage, supporting proactive management.

This safe, effective test provides valuable information to help diagnose, manage, and monitor various cardiac conditions.

What to expect

You will be asked to change into a gown before your examination and the technician will explain exactly what will happen during your procedure. It may vary slightly from what we describe below, so don’t worry.

You will be asked to lie on a bed and small ECG patches will be applied to your chest.
The sonographer will apply a warm gel to your chest which helps them move the transducer across your skin with ease.
Through the appointment the technician will ask you to move into different positions so they can capture your heart from all angles.
Your scan will take about 45mins to complete

When can you get your results?

The images obtained are digitally recorded. At Cooroy Radiology our highly trained and qualified radiologists interpret the images and provide a report for your doctor and/or referring health care provider usually within 24 hours, although depending on the complexity of the scan this may take a little longer.

You will need to make a follow up appointment to discuss the results with your referring practitioner. Your doctor can access your report and images electronically via a secure portal and you will be able to access your images via our patient portal.

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Echocardiography

What is Echocardiography?

An echocardiogram or ‘echo’ is an ultrasound of your heart. An echocardiogram uses sound waves to take images of the heart’s structure and function, including looking at any damage sustained from a heart attack, reasons behind chest pain and how your heart valves are working.

Echocardiography at Cooroy Radiology

Preparing for your examination

Reasons for Echocardiography

What to expect

When can you get your results?

Related information

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