ECHO (Heart Ultrasound)

ECHO is an imaging method that takes a movie of the heart. It works with ultrasound waves, sound waves inaudible to the human ear, produced by a device (probe) that touches the chest. These ultrasound waves pass through the chest wall, hit the heart layer by layer, return back with radar logic, are detected by the device's sensors and processed in the main machine and converted into an image. That's why it is also called cardiac ultrasound.

EKO, kis a fundamental test for understanding the anatomy of the heart. It also gives us information about the physiology of the heart, i.e. how it works, by determining the speed and direction of blood flow. ECHO is very useful in detecting the following problems:

• Reduced pumping power of the heart or hardening of the heart walls (heart failure)
• Heart valve diseases (valve stenoses and fugitives)
• Fluid accumulation in the pericardium (pericardial effusion) or hardening (constrictive pericarditis)
• Non-moving areas on the heart walls (myocarditis, heart attack, vascular occlusion etc.)
• High blood pressure in the blood vessel leading from the heart to the lungs (pulmonary hypertension)
• Diseases of the heart muscle (CDC, ARVC etc.)
• Heart holes and other congenital heart diseases (ASD, PFO, PDA, VSD etc.)
• Ballooning at the beginning of the aorta (aortic aneurysm)
• Other rare diseases (PVLamyloidosis, tumor, cyst, etc.)

EKOis usually performed at rest (when the patient is lying down) (Transthoracic ECHO; superficial ECHO). This is what is meant by just using the word EKO. But, bSome patients report that they feel fine at rest but complain during exertion. For this reason, sometimes the patient's heart is accelerated with medication or exercise (treadmill or stationary bike), i.e. the heart is consciously stressed and an ECHO is performed immediately. This includes stress echo called stress echocardiography. Stress ECHO is used to indirectly determine whether the heart vessels are blocked or to determine the vitality of certain areas of the heart after a heart attack. Sometimes the images obtained from superficial ECHO are not clear (obesity, COPD, etc.) or some anatomical structures (e.g. the left atrial appendage) cannot be seen with superficial ECHO. In this case, ECHO is performed through the esophagus. Since the esophagus is very close to the heart, it provides a very clear image. This is also called transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is called.