Echocardiogram

[PumpkinPie2]

Hello. I am due to have an echocardiogram tomorrow and wondered what I should expect and if I will get my results on the same day or if I will have to wait for an appointment for the results. Thanks

[Lezzers]

Hi

Normally you will have to wait for the results. Somr technicians will tell you what your EF is but that will probably be dependent on who the technician is and what your EF level is. If there's anything the technician is concerned about or wants a medical opinion then the technician may ask a cardiologist to attend.

Good luck 🤞

[PumpkinPie2 in reply to Lezzers]

What is EF? This is all very new to me, so I apologise

[Lezzers in reply to PumpkinPie2]

Your EF is ejection fraction. It's the amount of oxygenated blood that's is pumped out of heart to go round your body/organs & it's used as a measurement for heart function.

Hope that helps. You could ask the technician tomorrow as he/she will be able to explain it better.

[PumpkinPie2 in reply to Lezzers]

This is great, it does help, thank you I appreciate it

[Gooner1947]

I had an echocardiogram about 3 months ago.It took about 20 mins or so.

I stripped to waist and laid Firstly on my left side. The person doing it will use the ultrasound thing going over your heart.

You then turn over and lay on right side and same happens.

I tried to just relax.

The results took a few weeks. I was diagnosed severe aortic stenosis by the echocardiogram.

Hope it all goes well for you.

[PumpkinPie2 in reply to Gooner1947]

Thank you so much, I was really hoping to get some sort of idea of what is wrong tomorrow

[PadThaiNoodles]

My echos are always done on my left side and on my back. I've been having them annually for 20 years now (degenerative valve disease).

The technicians don't usually give me any info. But my echos are done at the hospital where my cardiologist has his offices, so he schedules me an appointment immediately after my echo. By the time I've walked across the hospital and sat in his waiting room for the obligatory 20 minutes, he'll have the results.

[PumpkinPie2 in reply to PadThaiNoodles]

Oh wow, that's lucky you can get your results there and then! That's great. Do you know who the results go back to as I have never seen a cardiologist and I was referred to cardiology for an Echocardiogram but it was the A&E doctor who did the referral.

[Gooner1947 in reply to PumpkinPie2]

After my echocardiogram I was told all results sent to both GP and Cardiologist.I saw cardiologist about a month after the echocardiogram.

I didn't go through A/E.

Are you an in or outpatient?

[PumpkinPie2 in reply to Gooner1947]

I was referred to cardiology from A&E, I ended up in there a couple weeks back (original post on here explains what happened) although the emergency doctor wasn't very clear on what he was telling me

[PadThaiNoodles in reply to PumpkinPie2]

My GP referred me to my first cardiologist. I saw him annually for 6 to 8 years. My echos were usually scheduled a week or so before I was to see him. Lovely guy, but definitely brought up on the Irish "tell them only what they need to know" system. (From what I've read on here, that system appears to be alive and well in the UK too.)

Anyway, I then ended up in A&E for what I thought were panic attacks (I do have depression, and anxiety is often co-morbid). But the A&E doctor felt something didn't quite add up and brought in the on-call cardiologist who diagnosed SVT. A week later in the mail I got a copy of the full report he sent to my GP. So I switched cardiologists.

I think it was a couple of years after that before the patient records system was up to doing the same-day echo/appointment.

[Trainspotter56]

I have a routine 6 monthly echo, and much the same experience as others - a follow-up clinic appointment a month later. I've never heard any sharp intakes of breath, or OMGs, but on one occasion I did have a student sit in and had a full commentary. I can tell you, the echo is a highly effective diagnostic tool, they get a lot of detailed information from it, and it's easy.

[Cat04]

bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo... results took 3 months to get to me & my GP, but it depends on which health authority you are with, some wait longer than others.