Battling Heart Disease In A New Place

A new ‘ECHO lab’ at Memorial Hospital West is benefitting patients that may have heart disease and the cardiac specialists that treat them.

The space enables cardiac teams to use ultrasound (or echocardiography) to assess the size and efficiency of heart chambers. This non-invasive, outpatient test also allows for assessment of blood flow through the heart valves to determine if there is narrowing, backflow, or other issues that prevent optimal function. Stress tests, coronary CTAs, and cardiac MRIs are also interpreted there.

“Our cardiac teams were involved in the design of the ECHO lab and were able to maximize use of the space,” said Omosalewa Adewale, MD, medical director of cardiac imaging at Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute.

Congenital heart disease, cardiomyopathy, infective endocarditis, pericardial disease, and rheumatic heart disease are just a few of the ailments that can be diagnosed through echocardiographic testing. It can also determine how other diseases, including cancer and stroke, have affected the heart’s function.

Memorial’s cardiac sonographers, cardiology fellowship trainees, and cardiologists all collaborate to interpret imaging tests that influence treatment decisions.