The Growing Importance of Echocardiogram

Echocardiography uses an advanced ultrasound technology, the echocardiogram, to monitor the condition of the heart. In the medical community, echocardiography pertains to the sonogram of the heart and it is commonly referred to as echo or cardiac echo.

Aside from producing 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional pictures of the cardiovascular system, echocardiogram is also used to assess the condition of the cardiac tissues and velocity of the blood in the heart.

Echocardiogram is also used to determine any abnormality and malfunctioning in the valves of the heart. The machine can tell if there is an abnormal communication between the ventricles and atria in the right and left sides of the heart.

Echocardiography is often used to people who have been diagnosed or suspected with heart-related diseases.

In fact, it is one of the most used processes to determine the presence of any heart disease because the machine can reveal if there is any enlargement or significant change in the size and shape of the heart.

It can also determine the pumping rate of the heart and damage location if there is any. It can even pinpoint the part of the cardiac muscles that do not function well as a result of a heart-related illness.

Aside from helping doctors identify the condition of the heart valves, echocardiography can discover any abnormality in the blood flow within the cardiovascular system.

Medical professionals also use this state of the art technology in making diagnosis. In fact, it can assess the severity of ischemia, cardiomyopathy and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It can even help in identifying the heart disease that is related to the symptoms that are currently experienced like chest pain and difficulty in breathing.

It can even determine if there is any problem with aorta, the largest artery in the cardiovascular system which is responsible for the transport of oxygen and blood from the heart to the other parts of the body.

The echocardiogram can reveal if there is any heavy fluid buildup in the sac that surrounds the heart or if there is a blood clot in the cardiovascular system. The Doppler ultrasound is responsible for identifying the actual rate of blood flow through the chambers of the heart.

Echocardiography is essential not just in determining the presence of a heart-related disease. It can also be used for follow-up and management of people who have been diagnosed with a heart related disease. Through this process, doctors can determine if there is any improvement in the medication that has been prescribed to the patients.

Echocardiography is widely used across the globe today because it is non-invasive and painless. Meaning, the process does not involve breaking of the skin just to see the real condition of the cardiovascular system. Also, it does not have any adverse side effects and results are easily determined.

How Echocardiography is Performed

Echocardiography is only performed by professional cardiac sonographer or echo technologist. Basically, cardio sonographer does the test and the doctors will interpret the results.

• To conduct echocardiography, the echo technologist uses a device known as transducer which emits high frequency sound waves.
• After applying a gel, the cardiac sonographer places the transducer on the ribs which is near the breastbone.
• The echoes of the sound waves that are picked up by the transducer are transmitted as electrical impulses.
• These electrical impulses are then converted by the echocardiography machine as moving images of the heart.
• The test can usually run for 1 ½ hour and it is the cardio sonographer’s duty to record all his observation and gather information about the heart condition of the patient.
• The observation will then be forwarded to the attending doctor.

After interpreting the results, doctors can provide diagnosis based on the heart condition revealed by the machine. Doctors can diagnose if you have abnormal heart valves, atrial fibrillation, congenital heart disease, murmur disease, damage to the heart, pericarditis or the infection of the pericardium, infectious endocarditis or infection of the valves, pulmonary and hypertension.

Cardiac Sonographer

Cardiac sonographer is a sonographer that specializes in monitoring the anatomy and functions of the cardiovascular system of human beings. It is a certificate-based technical job that can be completed for 1 year, 2 years and even 4 years.

Cardiac sonography is considered to be a lucrative career that gives promising income after a year of training.

It is yet unknown to the public but is expected that the industry will expand by as much as 26% by the year 2016 given that nowadays, lots of people are developing heart related disease as triggered by a number of different factors.

Though still unpopular to the public, cardiac sonography is considered to be one of the highest paying and best jobs in the medical community. In fact, being an echo technologist or cardiac sonographer gives everyone the chance to enjoy the great working opportunities in medical community.

Being a cardiac sonographer who has been registered in American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS), you get the opportunity to accept numerous job offers from all over the country almost every week.

What Is The Salary Rate for Cardio Sonographers?

Furthermore, cardiac sonography is considered as one of the top paying jobs for associate degree holders. In fact by the end of 2006, the US Department of Labor recorded a median salary rate of $57,160 for cardio sonographers. This figure can vary depending on the location and employer of the echo technologist.

Requirements in getting a professional license as a cardio sonographer vary from place to place. Most state requires a two-year associate degree in cardiac sonography after passing the national registry examination.

However, it is predicted that a 4-year degree on cardio sonography will be required as the field continues to expand through the years.

It is expected that the industry will continue to expand in the next years to come given that more elderly are getting more prone to develop cardiovascular diseases aside from the fact that people nowadays are preferring non-invasive procedures in determining their heart condition.

Also, unlike other medical technology jobs, cardio sonographers can render their services in different work areas such as hospitals, physician’s office, diagnostic imaging centers and clinics.

Nowadays, echocardiography is considered as one of the most rewarding technical jobs in the medical community nowadays because of the promising income it offers plus wide job opportunities.

Also, echocardiogram is considered to be very essential in the medical community because of its growing benefits in determining the burgeoning number of heart-related diseases.