Echocardiogram: Visualizing Your Heart's Structure and Function

At Subang Jaya Medical Centre's Heart, Vascular, and Thoracic Department, we utilise advanced diagnostic techniques to comprehensively evaluate your heart health. One of the key screening and diagnostic services available is the Echocardiogram. This non-invasive imaging test uses sound waves to create detailed images of your heart's structure and function.

During an Echocardiogram, a trained sonographer will apply a gel to your chest and use a transducer, a small handheld device, to transmit sound waves through your chest wall. These sound waves bounce off your heart structures and are converted into real-time images on a monitor. This allows our cardiologists to assess your heart's size, shape, valves, chambers, and overall function.

1. Assessing Heart Structure: Echocardiography provides detailed images of your heart's chambers, valves, and blood vessels. It helps identify structural abnormalities, such as valve defects, congenital heart conditions, or heart enlargement, which may impact its function.

2. Evaluating Heart Function: The Echocardiogram assesses how effectively your heart pumps blood and evaluates its overall function. It measures important parameters, such as ejection fraction, which indicates the percentage of blood pumped out of the heart with each heartbeat. This information helps our cardiologists determine if your heart is functioning optimally or if there are any abnormalities.

3. Detecting Heart Conditions: Echocardiography aids in diagnosing various heart conditions, including heart valve diseases, heart failure, pericardial diseases, and cardiac tumours. It allows our medical professionals to identify abnormalities, assess the severity of the condition, and develop appropriate treatment plans.