What is an echocardiogram?

An echocardiogram is a helpful ultrasound test that bounces sound waves off of your heart to look at the structure, size, and activity of your heart. Learn more from Randy P. Martin, MD, about what an echocardiogram does.

Transcript

00:00

We can actually see all four chambers of your heart. All the valves. See the great blood vessels that take

00:06

and receive blood back to your heart. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:17

Many of you go to hospitals for diagnostic tests, and one of the tests that you might get is something called an echocardiogram.

00:23

What is an echocardiogram? Well, you know what an echo is. It's basically an ultrasound test that really is bouncing sound waves off your heart

00:32

to look at the structure of your heart, the size, the activity, the pumping chamber.

00:40

We can actually see all four chambers of your heart. All the valves. See the great blood vessels that take

00:46

and receive blood back to your heart. So it's a great way to what we say noninvasively, with no radiation, no real danger

00:54

to the patient, to look at the structure and pumping action of your heart.

01:01

It's widely used it can be done as an outpatient, an inpatient. We do it all the time in the operating room to help the surgeons.

01:08

We do it in the CCUs and the ICUs. So today, it's a very, very helpful diagnostic test

01:14

that can really look at your heart and can help your doctors not only diagnose what's wrong with your heart but really direct the therapies that

01:21

are going to be best for you. [MUSIC PLAYING]