University Heart Center
Freiburg • Bad Krozingen

Echocardiography (“echo” for short) refers to ultrasound scans of the heart. Ultrasound is entirely painless. It involves sending acoustic waves into the body with a transducer. These sound waves are reflected inside the body and received back by the sensor, allowing them to be converted into images. In combination with the Doppler effect, echocardiography can also be used to produce images of the blood flow inside the heart and make measurements of flow speeds.

In contrast to x-rays, the acoustic waves in the frequency range used for echocardiography are completely harmless for the body. An ultrasound scan may be repeated as often as necessary without having any negative effects on the organism.

Echocardiography is the only noninvasive method for creating images of the heart in real time. Thanks to this unique feature, echocardiography plays an important role over and above its use in routine diagnostics, for instance in intensive and emergency medicine as well as in the monitoring of surgical interventions on the heart.

It can be used to determine the following:

• the pumping capacity of the heart’s two ventricles
• the size of the heart cavities  
• the thickness of the cardiac muscles
• the condition and function of the cardiac valves
• potential growths inside the heart (tumors)
• the accumulation of fluids in the pericardium or neighboring structures
• the vessels pumping blood to and from the heart

Our echo lab conducts between 100 and 180 scans per day, making it one of the largest echo labs in Europe. We have nine stationary high-end ultrasound devices as well as four mobile devices for use in emergencies or for scanning patients who are too infirm to be brought to the echo lab. Additional devices are located in our operating rooms, catheter labs, and intensive care units.