Echocardiogram test – Echocardiography

Echocardiography or echocardiogram test is a cardiac examination by means of ultrasound. Besides ECG, the echocardiogram test is one of the most important non-invasive examination methods used in cardiological diagnostics. It allows a thorough examination within a short period without the need for surgical intervention. As such, it uncovers important factors, such as the sizes of the individual ventricles, the pumping function and the function of the individual heart valves. The direction of flow and the speed of the blood flow are usually determined in parallel in a so-called Doppler examination. Heart defects can be detected quickly and safely this way.

An echocardiogram test does not require the special preparation of the patient and it is completed in 10 to 25 minutes. The echocardiogram test is not suitable for examining coronary vessels. The clarification of vascular disorders of the coronary vessels requires a further, somewhat time-consuming examination, the stress echocardiogram test, also known as ultrasound stress testing. This is an ultrasound examination in connection with an ECG under physical stress on a special bicycle.