Echocardiography
This is a technique that sends sound waves into the chest to rebound from the heart’s walls and valves. The recorded waves show the shape, texture and movement of the valves on an echocardiogram. They also show the size of the heart chambers and how well they’re working. This technique doesn’t hurt and is no risk to people.
Stress echocardiography or “stress echo” is a specialized exam done during and/or immediately after some form of physical stress (such as bicycle or treadmill exercise). It’s used to help diagnose coronary heart disease.
TEE is a special type of imaging procedure. A tube with a transducer on the end of it is passed down a person’s throat and into the esophagus. (This is the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.) The esophagus is close to the heart, and images from TEE can give very clear pictures of the heart and its structures
