Farooq Chaudhry, MD Mark Sherrid, MD An echocardiogram, often referred to as cardiac ECHO, uses sound waves to produce two-dimensional moving sonograms or images of the heart. The latest echocardiography systems can now create 3D real-time cardiac images.

Echocardiogram images are more detailed than X-rays and don’t expose patients to radiation.

Color Doppler echocardiography uses a hand-held transducer to reflect sound waves off the heart and assesses the flow and volume of blood through blood vessels. It is used to detect blocked or narrow arteries that can cause stroke. It also can reveal blood clots in legs (deep vein thrombosis, or DVT) that can break loose and block blood flow to the lungs.

A newer echocardiography diagnostic technique—catheter-based coronary ultrasound—uses high-intensity sound waves within the heart itself to determine size, shape, texture and function of heart structures. It is an extremely precise method for determining the severity of coronary artery disease.

For a referral to an expert cardiologist for an echoardiogram at St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospitals in New York City, call 1 (877) 996-9334.