Many people are interested in echocardiography with Doppler analysis and color doppler. What is it, let's figure it out in this article.
The heart is the most necessary and, most importantly, irreplaceable part of the human body. It knows no rest and works tirelessly throughout human life, without stopping the movement of blood through the vessels. Applied to the heart, the phrase that movement is life is not an idiom, but a very real fact. Disorders in the work of the heart are the most urgent medical problems today, attracting physicians to the choice of methods for detecting various pathologies and their treatment. This type of diagnostics, such as echocardiography with Doppler analysis, is widely used in modern medical practice. How is this study carried out, what is it, how to prepare for it and what information can it be used to extract for diagnosis?
History
Pulsed ultrasound in cardiac research was firstused by Swedish scientists in 1954. They developed a device with which it was possible to receive signals from the mitral valve and the left ventricle. Over the past time, the technology has been significantly improved and found its place in cardiology practice. Currently, this method is called echocardiography with Doppler analysis, and its main advantage is visibility and obtaining a complete picture in a short time, which increases the chances of seeing even the most insignificant pathology.
Echocardiography: what is it?
The use of high frequency waves that the human ear cannot perceive, or ultrasound, is the essence of echocardiography. Through special sensors attached to the body, ultrasonic waves propagate in the tissues, change their frequency and amplitude of oscillation, depending on the state in which the internal organs are located. Then the waves return to the sensors and, converted into an electrical signal, are processed by the device. This creates a picture of the study of the state of the heart muscle from four sides. The screen shows a two-dimensional or even three-dimensional image. In medicine, echocardiography is a diagnostic method that allows you to detect various types of heart pathologies in a wide variety of categories of patients. For example, Doppler echocardiography with color Doppler imaging (CDM), which is a combination of M-modes and 2D with Doppler, is indispensable for assessing mitral stenosis. The method has practically no contraindications, studiesare performed in a short time and the result is formed just as quickly - all this allows the active use of echocardiography in medical research. What is remarkable about Doppler echocardiography?
Features & Benefits
This procedure can be done along with adults by children and pregnant women. Echocardiography is the most accurate method known today.
According to doctors, this method has many advantages:
- Non-invasive method.
- The doctor receives a large amount of information quite quickly and quickly.
- Affordability.
- Existing data is easily reproduced.
With Doppler echocardiography, the doctor determines the direction of blood flow, measures the speed of blood movement. But the method also has disadvantages. One of them is that in order to obtain the most reliable results, the passage of the ultrasound beam should be as parallel as possible to the blood flow. Of course, this limits the possibility of studying some parts of the heart.
Estimated parameters
What parameters does echocardiography with Doppler analysis and color flow evaluate?
Echocardiography data allow to evaluate:
● valves and their functional features, as well as structures of the heart adjacent to the valves;
● any abnormal communication between the ventricles;
● leaking blood when the valve is closed;
● volume of blood pumped.
Doppler echocardiography allows you to measure all of the above indicators, which are important for assessing children's heart pathologies and congenital malformations without the use of cardiac catheterization. In addition, Doppler echocardiography does not pose a danger to the baby, which cannot be said about computed tomography, where the patient is exposed to x-rays.
With the help of echocardiography, it is possible not only to obtain information about the heart muscle and blood vessels, but also to study various types of tumors, diagnose mitral stenosis, and conduct many other examinations. How is Doppler echocardiography performed in newborns? More on that later.
Who can be assigned?
This analysis for pediatric patients is carried out in the same way as for adults. The procedure can be performed on people of any age. Moreover, it is definitely prescribed for pregnant women. With echocardiography, there are no unpleasant sensations, the procedure does not harm the child, it makes it possible to learn about the location and structure of the vessels and the child's heart.
When is echocardiography with Doppler analysis and CFM recommended?
Indications for echocardiography (EchoCG)
This examination procedure is carried out by patients who have undergone heart surgery. In addition, prolonged headaches may also be an indication for examination, since the origin of the pain may have a more serious cause than it might seem at first glance. Echocardiography is often indicated for smallchildren who are not gaining weight well.
Indications for echocardiography are:
- abnormal findings from previous chest examinations;
- heart rhythm disorder;
- heart murmurs;
- pain symptoms in the chest area that have no clear cause;
- ischemia, acquired and congenital malformations, arterial hypertension, myocardial infarction.
Doppler echocardiography and stress echocardiography are mandatory for pregnant women if:
- the birth of children with congenital heart defects was observed in the family;
- previous pregnancies ended in miscarriage;
- diagnosed with diabetes;
- a pregnant woman was diagnosed with rubella;
- have been prescribed antibiotics.
Echocardiography for pregnant women is prescribed for a period of 20-23 weeks, children can undergo it at any age. How is Doppler echocardiography performed?
Doppler echocardiography
The basis of this study is the use of ultrasound. Preparation for the study does not take much time and does not present any difficulties. Doppler echocardiography is often prescribed for a child. The patient undresses to the waist, then lies down on the couch. It is necessary to lie on the left side so that the chest and the apex of the heart are closer to each other, this provides more accurate results. Then the doctorapplies gel to the chest, where the sensors will be attached. They do not cause pain or discomfort. During the procedure, the doctor is facing the patient or behind his back. Ultrasound from sensors attached to a person is transmitted back to the body, then it will be converted into an electrical signal that is processed by the device. This is the difference between EchoCG and ECG. The results of the study in the form of a clear picture appear on the monitor with echocardiography with Doppler analysis. What is it, we explained.
Doppler options
Echocardiogram uses different Doppler options:
- Pulse-wave. Allows specialists to study blood flow in a specific vessel, in the area of a specific valve.
- Energy. This option is used to record low-velocity blood flow. To date, power doppler has not yet been widely used.
- Continuous wave. This version of Doppler is used to record high-speed blood flow.
- Fabric. Used to assess the speed of movement of the myocardium and other cardiac structures.
- Color. It is used to quickly assess blood flow in the main vessels, ventricles and atria of the heart.
- Color M-mode. In this case, a combination of conventional M-mode is used, which makes it possible to obtain a graphical representation of the movement of valve leaflets, heart walls in time, and color-coded blood flow mode.
Echocardiography with color mapping and Doppler analysis has become everythingmore popular.
Why Doppler Echocardiography?
Assessment of the work of the heart muscle is impossible without a study of the strength and volume of blood flow in the vessels and heart chambers. The use of modern ultrasound systems designed to perform echocardiography, equipped with dopplers and the necessary computer software, allows you to brilliantly solve this problem. Specialists have the opportunity to simultaneously conduct an ultrasound scan of the heart and dopplerography.
This diagnostic allows specialists to:
- reveal pathological directions of blood flow;
- calculate the effective surface of the tricuspid orifice and mitral valve;
- determine what is such an indicator as blood flow turbulence;
- assess pressure indicators in the heart chambers, the amount of blood ejected by the heart in one contraction, diastolic compliance of the left ventricle and other indicators of cardiohemodynamics.
Echocardiography in combination with Doppler allows specialists to obtain the necessary information to identify patients with heart defects and other pathologies. Echocardiography is most useful when the following pathologies are diagnosed:
● heart defects: for valvular dysfunctions to control prostheses;
● left ventricular dysfunction: used to find out the causes (post-infarction cardiosclerosis, cardiomyopathy, etc.) and determine fractionsejection;
● atrial fibrillation - assessment of structural cause, risk of thromboembolism and expected response to cardioversion;
● chronic heart failure;
● cardiomyopathy;
● infective endocarditis: valvular lesions are assessed, as well as the severity of hemodynamic disturbances;
● conditions resulting from cerebral ischemic stroke;
● pericardial pathology (presence of fluid in the pericardial sac);
● pathologies of the thoracic aorta: aneurysm, dissection.
How to interpret the Doppler echocardiography result?
EchoCG transcript
Echocardiography of the heart with Doppler and CDC may also have contraindications if the patient has been diagnosed:
- acute myocardial infarction;
- heart failure;
- renal or liver failure;
- dissecting aortic aneurysm.
The data of the study of the heart are deciphered as follows. First of all, the specialist evaluates the contractility of the myocardium, and then checks the indicators of the left ventricle. There is a thorough check of its functional characteristics, the size and condition of the cavity, the presence of scars and various kinds of tumors, their size and the effect they have on the blood flow walls are also examined. If the procedure was performed under physical exertion, then it is considered that it was normal if the following conditions are present:signs:
- ventricular walls move evenly;
- exile faction rising;
- walls thicken.
The study is considered not to have been very good if:
- ejection fraction is less than 35%;
- the walls of the right ventricle increase in size;
- visible weak mobility of the walls of the ventricle.
The results of the study should be analyzed by a cardiologist who will compare the normal values with those obtained in the study of this patient. Only on the basis of aggregate data, taking into account all circumstances, a specialist can make a diagnosis. Doppler echocardiography does not require special preparation.
Echocardiography of the heart is of great importance, for example, in establishing diagnoses of atrial tumors, stenosis of the tricuspid valve. Thanks to this study, the doctor is able to compile a complete picture of the disease based on important and very accurate diagnostic information.
Thus, echocardiography with Doppler analysis can be considered an extremely informative modern method for diagnosing cardiac pathologies. It allows doctors to check the structure of the heart, track its work, as well as the movement of blood flow, its turbulence and speed. All information obtained during the study is extremely important for determining the correct diagnosis. But nonethelessIt must always be remembered that a variety of factors can influence the results of a study, such as the type and quality of the equipment used, and the experience or lack of relevant experience of the doctor conducting the study. A misdiagnosis due to an ultrasound scan usually results in unnecessary medical tests, medications, and even surgery.
