Recently, more and more often, cardiologists refer their patients to an ultrasound examination of the structure and functioning of the heart, which makes it possible to identify pathologies of this organ at an early stage in order to eliminate them in time. And if there is a norm in the conclusion of the ultrasound of the heart, that is, all the indicators meet the standards, then you don’t have to worry.
Ultrasound appointment (ECHO KG)
If you are scheduled to have an ultrasound scan of your heart in the first place, don't panic. Let's first understand what it is - an ECHO KG of the heart, which is also called an ultrasound of the heart. And the answer here is simple, this is the simplest and most effective diagnostic method that allows you to examine the heart and determine the heart rate, blood circulation speed inside the organ, the dimensions of all heart chambers, the thickness of the cardiac partitions and walls, as well as a number of other indicators that together make it possible to find out whether the patient has one or another pathology of the heart, which will lead to the development of serious diseases. You can see all this thanks to the flow of ultrasonic waves that are generated by the ultrasound probe.apparatus and sent to the heart. And when they are reflected by the tissues of the body, they return, are recorded by the sensor, and a clear visual image of the organ appears on the computer screen, with the help of which you can see and evaluate all indicators of the work of the heart.
Indications for an adult ultrasound referral
In order to prevent the development of cardiovascular diseases, ultrasound (ECHO KG) of the heart should be performed once a year or two for both children and adults. However, more often than not, we neglect disease prevention and go to the doctor with certain symptoms and problems. And then, if the patient has certain indications, then the cardiologist immediately prescribes an ultrasound of the heart in order to quickly identify certain pathologies. These indications include:
- weakness and frequent dizziness or loss of consciousness;
- persistent migraines;
- nausea accompanied by low blood pressure;
- continuous cough and shortness of breath;
- pain in the chest or under the shoulder blade;
- have heart rhythm disturbances;
- pain in the right hypochondrium, the appearance of which is accompanied by an increase in the size of the liver;
- constant palpitations or no heartbeat;
- pallor or bluish skin tone, as well as cold extremities.
Indications for referral for examination of a child
Babies can also be prescribed an electrocardiogram (ECG) and an ultrasound of the heart in case of:
- trembling over the region of the heart,which can be noticed both by the doctor himself and by the parents of the child;
- poor gain in height or weight;
- child's complaints of chest discomfort;
- refusal of the baby from suckling or weak suckling, as well as his screaming and crying during feeding;
- blue nasolabial triangle while crying, crying baby or breastfeeding baby;
- causeless cold extremities;
- frequent colds;
- frequent fainting or dizziness;
- presence of congenital heart defects in the child's relatives.
Survey Benefits
Before you start looking for where to get an ultrasound of the heart, let's see what are its advantages over many other types of examinations of cardiac pathologies:
- The procedure is completely painless and will not cause the patient the slightest discomfort.
- Ultrasound (EchoCG) is a completely safe procedure for he alth.
- This examination is very inexpensive, so it is available to all of us.
- Ultrasound can detect almost any pathology of the heart, so this research method is the most effective and accurate.
- The examination takes 15-30 minutes, so that everyone can take such a small amount of time to check their heart.
- For the procedure, you do not need to prepare much, following a certain diet or regimen for a long time.
Preparation for the ultrasound procedure of the heart
In order to accurately determine whether there is a pathology or not, you need to prepare. Of course, special preparation is not required here, however, some rules will have to be followed before the examination:
- The day before the ultrasound, you should not drink alcohol-containing drinks, strong tea or coffee.
- It is not recommended to smoke on the day of the procedure, and if you cannot completely give up nicotine, then you should not smoke at least a couple of hours before the examination.
- If you are constantly taking any medications, be sure to notify your cardiologist in advance, who may ask you to refrain from taking them on the day of the examination.
- 10 minutes before the start of the ultrasound, you should sit down, rest and try to relax as much as possible.
- In the room where the procedure will be carried out, you should take with you a sheet that you will lay on the couch and a towel with which you will have to wipe off the remnants of the gel.
Choosing the location of the survey
First of all, having received a referral for an ultrasound examination, everyone begins to think about where to get the procedure in order to get the most accurate result. So, there are no special problems in finding a place for the examination, even for adults, even for children, since this type of examination is carried out in almost every medical center in any city. The following is a list of clinics offering cardiac ultrasound in Moscow:
- "SM-clinic" on Clara Zetkin street in the house33/28.
- "Miracle Doctor" on Shkolnaya Street at 11.
- "SM-clinic" on Yaroslavskaya street in house 4, building 2.
- "He alth Clinic" on Klimentovsky Lane at 6.
- "MedCenterService" on Vernadsky Avenue, building 37, building 1a.
- "Open clinic", which is located on 1905 street in house 7, building 1.
However, not only in Moscow, ultrasound of the heart can be done, therefore, even if you live in some other city, there will definitely be many places where this procedure is done.
Types of echocardiography
Now that you know what it is - ECHO KG of the heart (ultrasound), and have chosen a place for it, let's look at the types of implementation of this procedure:
- Transactor ultrasound is the most popular and widespread type of examination, which proceeds by placing a sensor on the chest to visually assess all indicators of the structure and functioning of the heart.
- Doppler ultrasound (EchoCG) allows you to evaluate the movement of blood in the heart and coronary vessels.
- Contrast echocardiography (ultrasound) allows the cardiologist to get a clearer picture of the inner face of the heart by introducing an X-ray contrast solution into the blood.
- The stress test combines transactor and Doppler ultrasound, is performed with the use of physical activity or injection of a drug into the body, and allows you to determine areas on the heart where coronary artery stenosis can occur.
- Transesophageal echocardiography is performed through an ultrasound transducer-device that is inserted through the throat or esophagus to enable the doctor to see the most accurate image of the heart in motion.
Ultrasound examination
Now that you know where to do an ultrasound of the heart of a child or an adult, and also figured out the different types of this procedure, let's determine how such a diagnosis proceeds:
- On a standard ultrasound, the patient undresses to the waist, lies down on the couch on his back, rolls over to his left side, after which his chest is smeared with a certain gel, and the doctor drives the sensor along it, lingering at one point or another for scanning hearts.
- Stress echocardiogram is first performed as a regular ultrasound, and then the patient is injected with "Dipyridamole" and "Dobutamine" to cause a pharmacological load, or the person is forced to perform certain physical exercises, loading the body, and after a while, a regular ultrasound is done again, to check how the heart copes with the load.
- Transesophageal ultrasound is performed by inserting an endoscope through the throat or esophagus into the patient's body, before which his oropharynx is irrigated with an anesthetic, which minimizes pain and discomfort.
Norm of adult heart ultrasound results
Now that we have figured out how an echocardiogram (ultrasound) is done, let's figure out what the normal indicators of such a diagnosis should be, indicating excellent adult he althperson:
- The size of the left atrium should be between 2.3 and 3.8 centimeters.
- The end diastolic size of the left ventricle (EDV LL) should be between 3.7 and 5.6 centimeters.
- The final systolic size of the left ventricle (SSR VC) should be between 2.1 and 3.6 centimeters.
- The wall thickness of the left ventricle should be between 0.8 and 1.1 centimeters.
- The thickness of the interventricular septum should be between 0.8 and 1 centimeter.
- The size of the right atrium should be between 2.3 and 4.6 centimeters.
- In the basal region, the size of the right ventricle (RV) should be between 2 and 3 centimeters.
- The wall thickness of the right ventricle should be between 0.2 and 0.5 centimeters.
- The size of the left atrium should be between 2 and 3.6 centimeters.
- The transpulmonary blood flow velocity should be between 0.6 and 0.9 m/s.
- Fluid in the pericardial area or should not be at all, or its volume should not exceed 30 ml.
- Thrombi, infarction zones and regurgitation should not be.
The norm of the results of ultrasound of the baby's heart up to a year
But the rate of ultrasound of the heart of babies will depend on their age:
- In a baby up to 1 month old, the KDR YL should be in the range from 1.3 to 2.3 centimeters; KSD ZhL - from 0.8 to 1.6 centimeters; wall thickness of the posterior LL - from 0.2 to 0.5 centimeters; thicknessinterventricular septum - from 0.2 to 0.6 centimeters; the size of the left atrium (PL) - from 0.9 to 1.7 centimeters; the size of the ZhP is from 0.2 to 1.3 centimeters.
- In a baby up to 3 months, the KDR YL should be in the range from 1.6 to 2.6 centimeters; KSD ZhL - from 0.9 to 1.6 centimeters; wall thickness of the posterior LL - from 0.2 to 0.5 centimeters; thickness of the interventricular septum - from 0.2 to 0.6 centimeters; the size of the submarine is from 1 to 1.9 centimeters; the size of the ZhP is from 0.2 to 1.3 centimeters.
- In a baby up to 6 months, the KDR YL should be in the range from 1.9 to 2.9 centimeters; KSD ZhL - from 1, 1 to 2 centimeters; wall thickness of the posterior LL - from 0.3 to 0.6 centimeters; thickness of the interventricular septum - from 0.2 to 0.6 centimeters; the size of the submarine is from 1.2 to 2.1 centimeters; the size of the ZhP is from 0.2 to 1.4 centimeters.
- In a baby up to a year, the LV EDR should be in the range from 2 to 3.2 centimeters; KSD ZhL - from 1.2 to 3.2 centimeters; wall thickness of the posterior LL - from 0.3 to 0.6 centimeters; thickness of the interventricular septum - from 0.2 to 0.6 centimeters; the size of the submarine is from 1.4 to 2.4 centimeters; the size of the ZhP is from 0.3 to 1.4 centimeters.
Optimal echocardiography results for a child 1-10 years old
Also, the norms of ultrasound of the heart in children from one to 10 years old also differ in age:
- In a child 1-3 years old, the KDR YL should be in the range from 2.3 to 3.4 centimeters; KSD ZhL - from 1.3 to 2.2 centimeters; wall thickness of the posterior LL - from 0.3 to 0.7 centimeters; thickness of the interventricular septum - from 0.2 to 0.6 centimeters; PL size - from 1, 4 to 2,6 centimeters; the size of the ZhP is from 0.3 to 1.4 centimeters.
- In a child 3-6 years old, the KDR YL should be in the range from 2.5 to 3.6 centimeters; KSD ZhL - from 1.4 to 2.5 centimeters; wall thickness of the posterior LL - from 0.3 to 0.8 centimeters; thickness of the interventricular septum - from 0.3 to 0.7 centimeters; the size of the submarine is from 1.5 to 2.7 centimeters; the size of the ZhP is from 0.4 to 1.5 centimeters.
- In a child of 6-10 years old, the KDR YL should be in the range from 2.9 to 4.4 centimeters; KSD ZhL - from 1.5 to 2.9 centimeters; wall thickness of the posterior LL - from 0.4 to 0.8 centimeters; thickness of the interventricular septum - from 0.4 to 0.8 centimeters; the size of the submarine is from 1.6 to 3.1 centimeters; the size of the ZhP is from 0.5 to 1.6 centimeters.
Optimal ultrasound for heart valves
To accurately determine the diagnosis, it is not enough to know the norms of ultrasound of the heart, which show its size and structure, you still need to have additional information about heart valves. Their pathology is determined using stenosis and insufficiency coefficients. Stenosis is a narrowing of the valve opening, due to which the heart chamber with great difficulty passes blood through it. Insufficiency is the opposite condition, indicating that the leaflets of the heart valve stop working, and then the blood, when moving from one chamber to another, returns back, which indicates a decrease in the efficiency of the heart. The coefficients of stenosis and insufficiency can vary in the region of 1-3, and the higher this figure, the more serious the pathology.
Interpretation of ultrasound results and detection of heart disease
Only a cardiologist can correctly decipher the results of an ultrasound of the heart, who will collect all the data together and be able to determine the presence of certain pathologies in the patient by one or another sign:
- With a myocardial infarction, a dead area of the heart can be seen.
- There is a lot of free fluid in pericarditis.
- In myocarditis, there is an increase in the chambers of the heart and a decrease in the volume of blood ejected from the left ventricle.
- Defective heart valves are seen in endocarditis.
- With an aneurysm, you can see the protrusion of the thin walls of the heart.
- In cardiomyopathy, there is an increase in the thickness of the walls of blood vessels.
- With heart failure, there is a decrease in the volume of blood that is ejected by the heart during organ contraction.
- With heart valve disease, blood flow decreases and the size of the vascular walls changes.
