When is echocardiography performed?
A cardiac ultrasound is performed when the following diseases are suspected or to monitor their progress:
- heart failure
- coronary heart disease, heart attack
- Suspicion of damage to the heart valves
- Blood clot formation in the heart
- heart defects (vities)
- Pericardial effusion (pericardial effusion)
- Bulging or rupture of the aortic wall
Transesophageal/ transthoracic echocardiography (TTE examination)
Usually, the echo examination of the heart is performed like any other ultrasound, i.e. via a transducer that is placed on the patient’s body surface by the physician. This is called transthoracic echocardiography, i.e. “through the thorax”.
For some questions, however, the view from the outside is no longer sufficient. In this case, the so-called transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is performed. In this procedure, the physician pushes a special transducer through the esophagus to the entrance of the stomach. The heart is in the immediate vicinity and can thus be better assessed. The throat is anesthetized for this purpose, and the patient can also be given a sedative if desired.
Stress echocardiography
What are the risks of echocardiography?
Transthoracic echocardiography at rest is completely harmless and offers no risks. With stress echocardiography, on the other hand, cardiac arrhythmia or, in extreme cases, heart attack or heart failure can occur in rare cases. However, since the patient is monitored the entire time during the examination, the physician can detect impending complications very early and intervene.
During transesophageal echocardiography, the patient must be informed about the following possible complications:
- injury to the esophagus and larynx
- Damage to the teeth
- Side effects of the sedative medication, if one is administered.
