In ECG part, we discussed that ECG is helpful in diagnosing and ruling in or out various heart diseases.
Question: Is ECG enough to determine heart diseases/functions?
The answer is: No!
One of the special heart tests which is crucial in diagnosing heart diseases is Echocardiography.
Echocardiography is basically the ultrasound of heart and is a procedure which must be done and interpreted by cardiologist.
It takes about 5-10 minutes to do an echocardiography and is available for both outpatients and inpatients in a private clinic or a hospital, respectively. It is pain free, with no need for numbness nor anesthesia. In fact, it shows the live video of the heart’s function while you are relaxed and lie on the bed consciously.
As we know, ECG mostly analyses electrical issues of the heart and gives some but useful information about other heart problems. Echocardiography, in contrast, doesn’t check electrical circuit of the heart. Instead, it checks anatomical structures of the heart, i.e.: size of chambers, atrial or ventricular dilatation, heart muscle hypertrophy, valvular disease and congenital heart disease.
These are the diseases that are common and important that’s why we have to pay enough attention to them!
Echocardiography is one of the most accessible and valuable modalities in diagnosing one of the most important structural heart diseases, hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), which is common in professional athletes, in particular. It is one of the leading causes of sudden cardiac death among them. Therefore, they are advised to undergo annual cardiac health assessment.
Heart needs to pump the blood against high blood pressure all day in some of the systematic diseases, like high blood pressure, which is indeed a common one. Working under pressure for a long time affects the function of heart in many ways gradually.
Pumping under this pressure overload can lead to atrial or ventricular dilatation as well as increased muscle bulk. As a result, heart loses its contractility or contraction power in other words. This is the road which eventually ends up in developing heart failure, causing shortness of breath, extreme fatigue etc. The most important and handy way to prevent and diagnose these conditions is echocardiography.
How you can get an Echocardiography done?
For that, you have to see your cardiologist who is your heart specialist. He might consider doing echocardiography regarding your signs and symptoms and overall outlook of your past medical history as well as family history and many other criteria. Then, if you are eligible to do so, you would be asked to lie down on your side. After applying specific kind of gel, cardiologist will have a look to your heart through your exposed chest. Heart’s function would be monitored in live and different dimensions of heart would be measured looking for any chance of particular abnormality.
You would be advised to take some medications or arrange other investigations depending on your echocardiography result.