Principles of echocardiography.
Echocardiography is basically a diagnostic procedure whereby images of the heart are produced using ultrasound. It can be considered a natural means of sensing one's environment in that this basic technic is used by several animals as sonar. The manner in which the images are created is in many ways similar to light. With the standard M-mode examination one obtains a one-dimensional view of the heart whereby distance is plotted against time on a strip chart recorder. Cross-sectional or two-dimensional echocardiography plots distance against distance, and one more accurately recreates a spatially oriented heart on either movie film or videotape. All the availability information thus far indicates that echocardiography offers very little, if any, hazard to the patient.
D004452:Echocardiography / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D014465:Ultrasonics