Echocardiography is a diagnostic technique that can provide a wealth of helpful information, including the size and shape of the heart, its pumping strength, and the location and extent of any damage to its tissues. It is especially useful for assessing diseases of the heart valves. Echocardiography can reveal such abnormalities as poorly functioning heart valves or damage to the heart tissue from a past heart attack. However, a normal echocardiogram does not rule out the possibility of coronary heart disease.

Echocardiography creates an image of the heart using ultra-high-frequency sound waves that cannot be heard by the human ear. The technique is very similar to the ultrasound tests commonly used to see the fetus during pregnancy. A big advantage of echocardiography is that it does not involve breaking the skin or probing body cavities and has no known risks or side effects.

Echocardiography is used to diagnose...