Heart echo for children with cardiology advice

It is advisable to provide the doctor with the results of previous cardiological examinations.

No

ECHO examination of the heart is also known as cardiac ultrasound. It is a precise method based on recording blood flow in the heart cavities and blood vessels. The test allows you to assess the anatomical structures of the heart - the thickness of the walls, the size of the heart cavities. It records the movement of the heart muscle, valves, as well as their degree of stenosis or regurgitation, cardiac contractility. Allows to see intracardiac leaks in congenital defects. The parameters illustrate changes in blood flow velocity within the atria and ventricles of the heart, large blood vessels, such as the aorta, vena cavae, artery, pulmonary veins and coronary vessels. It is a painless examination and is not associated with any risk for the patient.
Purpose of the examination: rapid assessment of the structure and function of the heart valves, measurement of the size and work of the heart chambers, determination of cardiac circulatory capacity, diagnosis of heart defects

• suspected heart defects,
• hypertension,
• cardiovascular diseases,
• ischemic heart disease,
• myocarditis,
• endocarditis,
• cardiac arrhythmias,
• cardiac muscle hypertrophy,
• Stiffness of the heart chambers (known as cardiomyopathy),
• cardiopulmonary diseases,
• Assessment of contractility in coronary artery disease and other heart diseases.

In patients with a BMI above 35 (obese) and with COPD, a transesophageal cardiac echo is recommended. In obese patients, the thickness of fat tissue and closely positioned ribs prevent a thorough examination of the patient. The same is true for people with emphysema where the large lung volume makes detailed analysis difficult. The diagnostic value of the trans-thoracic examination is then very low, as it is impossible to view, for example, the flows in the heart and all the structures of the heart.

Acute infection, cold with acute symptoms, cough, runny nose are also contraindications to the test.