Echocardiography, also known as cardiac ultrasound, is the use of ultrasound to examine the heart. It is a type of medical imaging, using standard ultrasound or Doppler ultrasound. The visual image formed using this technique is called an echocardiogram, a cardiac echo, or simply an echo.
A cardiac stress test is a cardiological examination that evaluates the cardiovascular system's response to external stress within a controlled clinical setting. This stress response can be induced through physical exercise or intravenous pharmacological stimulation of heart rate.
A transesophageal echocardiogram, or TEE, is an alternative way to perform an echocardiogram. A specialized probe containing an ultrasound transducer at its tip is passed into the patient's esophagus. This allows image and Doppler evaluation which can be recorded. It is commonly used during cardiac surgery and is an excellent modality for assessing the aorta, although there are some limitations.
Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is thickening of the heart muscle of the left ventricle of the heart, that is, left-sided ventricular hypertrophy and resulting increased left ventricular mass.
The American College of Cardiology (ACC), based in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit medical association established in 1949. It bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet its qualifications. Education is a core component of the college, which is also active in the formulation of health policy and the support of cardiovascular research.
A sonographer is an allied healthcare professional who specializes in the use of ultrasonic imaging devices to produce diagnostic images, scans, videos or three-dimensional volumes of anatomy and diagnostic data. The requirements for clinical practice vary greatly by country. Sonography requires specialized education and skills to acquire, analyze and optimize information in the image. Due to the high levels of decisional latitude and diagnostic input, sonographers have a high degree of responsibility in the diagnostic process. Many countries require medical sonographers to have professional certification. Sonographers have core knowledge in ultrasound physics, cross-sectional anatomy, physiology, and pathology.
3D ultrasound is a medical ultrasound technique, often used in fetal, cardiac, trans-rectal and intra-vascular applications. 3D ultrasound refers specifically to the volume rendering of ultrasound data. When involving a series of 3D volumes collected over time, it can also be referred to as 4D ultrasound or real-time 3D ultrasound.
A cardiovascular technician, also known as a vascular technician, is health professional that deal with the circulatory system.
The Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) is the national voice for cardiovascular physicians and scientists in Canada. The CCS is a membership organization that represents more than 1,800 professionals in the cardiovascular field. Its mission is to promote cardiovascular health and care through knowledge translation, professional development and leadership in health policy.
The Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS) is a nonprofit professional association, representing over 24,000 sonographers and sonography student members across all fifty U.S. states and forty-eight countries, as of 2022. SDMS hosts an annual conference for sonographers and publishes a bi-monthly journal, the Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography. The SDMS provides its membership with a comprehensive array of continuing medical education activities, information, and products reflecting all of the sonography specialty areas, including:
Abdul Jamil Tajik is a Pakistani American physician and medical investigator in the field of cardiovascular diseases. He is listed by the Institute for Scientific Information as a highly cited researcher – one of the top 250 researchers in his field in terms of number of citations.
The American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS), incorporated in June 1975, is an independent nonprofit organization that administers examinations and awards credentials in the areas of diagnostic medical sonography, diagnostic cardiac sonography, vascular technology, physicians’ vascular interpretation, musculoskeletal sonography and midwifery ultrasound. ARDMS has over 90,000 certified individuals in the U.S., Canada and throughout the world. ARDMS provides certifications, resources, and career information to healthcare practitioners and students practicing medical sonography.
Cardiac imaging refers to minimally invasive imaging of the heart using ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), or nuclear medicine (NM) imaging with PET or SPECT. These cardiac techniques are otherwise referred to as echocardiography, Cardiac MRI, Cardiac CT, Cardiac PET and Cardiac SPECT including myocardial perfusion imaging.
The Society for Vascular Medicine is a learned society base in the United States. It is considered a medical specialty professional society in the field of vascular medicine.
The Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) is an international non-profit medical society based in East Dundee, in the United States. It was established as international representative and advocate for physicians, scientists, and technologists working in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging. It works to improve patient outcomes through education, training, standards, research and development. The society has published more than 40 professional guidelines and expert consensus statements to help standardize and guide education, research and patient management with CMR. The society's members are physicians, scientists, technologists and trainees. In 2018, it is led by Matthias Stuber.
Overscreening, also called unnecessary screening, is the performance of medical screening without a medical indication to do so. Screening is a medical test in a healthy person who is showing no symptoms of a disease and is intended to detect a disease so that a person may prepare to respond to it. Screening is indicated in people who have some threshold risk for getting a disease, but is not indicated in people who are unlikely to develop a disease. Overscreening is a type of unnecessary health care.
William A. Zoghbi is a Lebanese-American cardiologist. He is Professor of Medicine at the Houston Methodist Institute for Academic Medicine, in Houston Texas, and Weill Cornell Medical College. He holds the Elkins Family Distinguished Chair in Cardiac Health at the Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center. Zoghbi is the Chairman of the Department of Cardiology at Houston Methodist Hospital. He is a Master of the American College of Cardiology and served as its president in 2012.
Shelby Kutty is an Indian-born American cardiologist, a professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He holds the Helen B. Taussig endowed professorship at Johns Hopkins and is Director of the Helen B. Taussig Heart Center at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Prior to this, he held the title of assistant dean for research and development and vice chair of pediatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine.
Partho P. Sengupta is an Indian-American cardiologist. He is the Henry Rutgers Professor of Cardiology and Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Disease & Hypertension at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) and the Chief of Cardiology, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) since July 1, 2021. Between 2019 and 2021, Dr. Sengupta was the Abnash C. Jain Chair & Professor of Cardiology at West Virginia University School of Medicine and the Chief of Division of Cardiology, Chair of Cardiovascular Innovation and Director of Cardiac Imaging at West Virginia University Heart and Vascular Institute.
Harvey Feigenbaum is an American cardiologist known for his life-long work in the field of echocardiography. He wrote the first textbook on the subject in 1972, which is currently in its 8th edition, and has published over 300 articles. He has trained generations of cardiologists including many of the world's pioneers in the field through his numerous visitors, frequent workshops, annual courses in Indianapolis, Indiana beginning in 1968, the year when he started formal fellowship training He founded the field of cardiac sonography in 1965 and the American Society of Echocardiography in 1975. His seminal article on the diagnosis of pericardial effusions published in 1965 with his technique "brought echocardiography to the attention of thousands of practitioners".
