Echocardiography

The ultrasound examination of the heart provides essential information about cardiac chambers and function, as well as structure and function of the heart valves. Pericardium, great arteries and adjacent vessels can also be evaluated. Stress echocardiography examination allows the assessment of cardiac function under exercise or, if indicated, under pharmacological stimulation (e.g. with dobutamine), in this way diagnosis and relevance of coronary heart disease or heart muscle disease can be assessed. Every year, in excess of 20,000 echocardiography examinations, including more than 1,500 stress echocardiography and 1,500 transesophageal examinations (TEE) are performed in our laboratory. All examinations are stored digitally and can be analyzed offline by means of a cardiological image processing system. In addition, examinations can be compared directly with previous examinations within few seconds in all departments of the clinic using this tool.

Main research areas

Particular emphasis is placed on the diagnosis of cardiomyopathies, storage diseases as cardiac amyloidosis, heart valve disease, congenital heart disease in adults and cardiac resynchronization therapy. In addition, our laboratory has special expertise in the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension and other diseases of the right heart.

All standard and novel methods of modern ultrasound diagnostics are offered in our echocardiography laboratory: 2D and 3D echocardiography, CW, PW, color Doppler and tissue Doppler, 2D and 3D myocardial strain, as well as contrast echocardiography. TEE examinations are carried out with 3D probes. Stress echocardiography examinations (semi-supine bicycle or dobutamine) are conducted daily as part of the ischemia and myocardial vitality diagnostics, furthermore, measurement of systolic pulmonary artery pressure is also undertaken in every stress examination.

In addition to carrying out our own examinations and research, our laboratory is also enthusiastic to contribute with the interpretation of complex or unclear diagnosis by echocardiography examinations conducted in other institutions.

Team