contrast echocardiography

echocardiography /echo·car·di·og·ra·phy/ (-kahr″de-og´rah-fe) recording of the position and motion of the heart walls or internal structures of the heart by the echo obtained from beams of ultrasonic waves directed through the chest wall.

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color Doppler echocardiography  color flow Doppler imaging.

contrast echocardiography  that in which the ultrasonic beam detects tiny bubbles produced by intravascular injection of a liquid or a small amount of carbon dioxide gas.

Doppler echocardiography  a technique for recording the flow of red blood cells through the cardiovascular system by means of Doppler ultrasonography, either continuous wave or pulsed wave.

M-mode echocardiography  that recording the amplitude and rate of motion (M) in real time, yielding a monodimensional (“icepick”) view of the heart.

transesophageal echocardiography  (TEE) the introduction of a transducer attached to a fiberoptic endoscope into the esophagus to provide two-dimensional cardiographic images or Doppler information.

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echocardiography

recording of the position and motion of the heart walls or internal structures of the heart and neighboring tissue by the echo obtained from beams of ultrasonic waves directed through the chest wall.

Echocardiography is based on the same principle as the oceanographic technique of depth-sounding; that is, it utilizes ultrasound to delineate anatomical structures by recording on a graph the echoes from the heart structures. It is particularly useful in demonstrating, without danger to the patient, valvular and other structural deformities of the heart which formerly required cardiac catheterization or some other elaborate procedure for accurate diagnosis. See also ultrasonography.

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contrast echocardiography

microbubbles in liquid are used as a vascular contrast medium. When injected intravenously in a selected or non-selected location, these can be tracked to demonstrate abnormalities of blood flow.

transesophageal echocardiography

the ultrasound probe is mounted on a flexible endoscope and is positioned in the esophagus over the base of the heart, thus enabling unique viewing projections of structures in this area.

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contrast echocardiography

Cardiology Enhancement of echocardiography with contrast media–eg, with sonicated albumin, which is used to detect coronary disease by IV injection of fluorocarbons. See Harmonic ultrasound imaging, Sonicated albumin, Transient response imaging.