Question: How does an echocardialgram actually work??

Sally Barber answered on 14 Jun 2010:

Wow, this is a tricky question!

An echocardiogram works by using ultrasound to view an image of the heart. A probe is put onto the participants chest and inside the probe is a crystal. The crystal is given an electrical charge which causes it to vibrate. This vibration produces ultrasound waves. Gel has to be put onto the participants chest because ultrasound doesn’t travel well through air.

Once the ultrasound wave is transmitted into the body it travels through the body until it encounters tissue. Some of the ultrasound energy is reflected back to the probe whilst the rest is transmitted deeper into the body until it reaches more tissue and is reflected back to the probe. The crystal in the probe recieves the ultrasound energy and transforms it into electrical energy when can be displayed on a screen as a visual image of the heart.

I hope this makes sense to you, if not tell me what you don’t understand and i’ll answer again.