Echocardiography - Diagnosing Heart Disease: Heart Disease

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Echocardiography

Some cardiologists use echocardiography instead of nuclear imaging to detect ischemia during a cardiac stress test. As with nuclear imaging, echocardiography (sometimes referred to as a stress echo or ultrasound) is appropriate for people at high risk for a heart attack who can't have an exercise tolerance test or whose exercise test was inconclusive.

With echocardiography, sound waves provide a video image of the beating heart. After exercise or an injection of one of the ischemia-inducing drugs, the portion of the heart muscle with inadequate blood supply contracts abnormally.

It's difficult to compare echocardiography with nuclear imaging because studies show that their accuracy and effectiveness vary considerably from one imaging laboratory to the next. Therefore, when making the choice, you and your doctor should take into account which test is preferred and used most often by the institution where you'll be evaluated.

Last updated:	May 03, 2007