2D Echocardiography

2D Echocardiography can provide excellent images of the heart, para cardiac structures, and the great vessels. During a standard echo, the sound waves are directed to the heart from a small hand-held device called a transducer, which sends and receives signals. Heart walls and valves reflect part of the sound waves back to the transducer to produce pictures of the heart. These images appear in black and white and in color on a TV screen. They”re selectively recorded on videotape and special paper, and reviewed and interpreted by a cardiologist (heart specialist).

The test is performed for a variety of reasons

• To detect abnormal heart valves i.e. the atria and the ventricles which are concerned with the distribution of blood
• To detect abnormal heart rhythms like tachycardia i.e. rapid increase in beating of the heart to brachycardia i.e. rapid decrease in beating of the heart
• To check for any congenital heart disease
• To observe for any damage that the heart might have taken after a heart attack