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Which heart conditions can echocardiography help diagnose?

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Echocardiography is a diagnostic technique that utilizes ultrasound to visualize the internal structures and motion of the heart. By analyzing the reflection of high-frequency sound waves, clinicians can evaluate chamber size, wall thickness, and valve structure to identify various cardiac abnormalities.1

Conditions that echocardiography can help diagnose include:

Valve diseases: Such as endocarditis, mitral valve prolapse, and other heart valve defects.12
Congenital heart diseases: Structural abnormalities present from birth.1
Intracardiac tumors: Abnormal growths within the heart.1
Heart dysfunction: The technique is used to study the motion of internal organs, aiding in the assessment of cardiac performance.2

Additionally, advanced applications like duplex scanning—which combines imaging with Doppler techniques—allow for the measurement of blood flow and pressure across heart valves, further assisting in the diagnosis of complex cardiovascular issues.23