What is an echocardiogram of the heart?
Also known as transthoracic (across the chest) echo, it is a painless test that looks at the heart chambers and valves. This test does not use x-ray but rather high frequency sound waves (ultrasound) to get a picture of four heart chambers and four valves. The sound waves bounce back from the heart and valves producing images and sounds that can be used by the cardiologist to detect damage and disease. An echocardiogram is a very safe test and in fact is the same technology that is used to image a fetus before it is born.
Also known as transthoracic (across the chest) echo, it is a painless test used to observe the heart chambers and valves. Not an x-ray, it uses ultrasound high frequency waves to get a picture of all four heart chambers and valves. The sound waves bounce back and produce images and sounds that can be used by the cardiologist to detect damage and disease.
