Introduction to Echocardiogram Flashcards
What is echocardiography?
The use of ultrasound to examine the heart
What is the portable machine called used to carry out echocardiography?
Logic V2
What probe is best to use for looking at superficial structures?
Linear probe
What probe produces high frquency sound waves? (13 - 6MHz)
The linear probe
Which probes produces low frequency waves?
The curved-array probe and the phased-array probe
Which probe has the smallest footprint?
The phased array probe
What are the 4 different manouvers we can do with the probe? (remember PART)
- Presure
- Alignment
- Rotation
- Tilt
What are the 3 windows we can view the heart from?
- Parasternal
- Apical
- Subcostal
What view uses the left lobe of the liver as an accoustic window?
The subcostal view
Where should the probe marker face when viewing the heart from the parasternal long-axis?
The right shoulder
Where should the probe marker be facing when viewing the heart from the parasternal short-axis view?
The left shoulder
What view is useful for viewing the valves of the heart?
The parasternal short-axis
What is the M-mode used for?
- Getting movement along the 2D line
- Particularly important in studying cardiac valve and wall motion and in documenting foetal heart rate and activity
What views allow us to see the four chambers of the heart?
- The apical four-chamber view
- The subcostal four-chamber view
Where should the probe marker face to view the four chambers of the heart?
the left mid axillary line
What view should we use to see the IVC?
The subcostal four-chamber view with the transducer orientation at 12 o’clock
How are images of the heart seen in neo-nates
They are the correct way up, opposite to adults
What are the cardiovascular implications of Marfan’s syndrome?
- Dilation of ascending and sometimes descending aorta
- Incompetence of aortic and mitral valve
- Risk of Aneurysms
- Risk of Dissection of aorta
What type of echocardiogram can be performed (often in the elderly) to view clearer images of the heart?
Transoesophageal echocardiogram
What surgical procedure and medications are often used to treat Marfan’s syndrome?
- Echocardiogram
- TOE, MRI, CT
- B blockers /ACEI
- Surgical refereal if aortic root at sinus of valsava exceeds
