Echocardiography uses sound waves to examine the size, shape, and motion of various structures within the heart, and is used to diagnose abnormalities of the heart valves and to assess cardiac function. It is a noninvasive test in which a microphone-like transducer directs towards the heart extremely high-pitched sound waves (which cannot be heard by the human ear), which reflects these waves thus producing echoes. This paper will look at the use of echocardiography in detecting congenital heart disease.
Echocardiography creates an image of the heart using ultra-high-frequency sound waves, and is a similar technique to the ultrasound commonly used to visualize the fetus during pregnancy (3). It is one of the most commonly used diagnostic tests for heart disease. Occasionally, variations of the echocardiography test are used, such as Doppler echocardiography, which employs a special microphone that allows measurement of the direction and speed of blood flow through the blood vessels and heart valves. By assessing the speed of blood flow at different locations around an obstruction, it can help to precisely locate the obstruction. It can also detect and help evaluate regurgitation through the heart valves. Exercise echocardiograms, taken while the patient is exercising, allow doctors to detect heart problems that might not be evident when the body is at rest and needs less blood (3). For patients unable to exercise, drugs can be given which mimic the effects of exercise. Echocardiography is an extremely safe test because it is noninvasive and has no side effects.
Fetal cardiac abnormalities are usually not diagnosed by routine ultrasonography, but detailed fetal echocardiography is a costly procedure and is usually performed only in high risk cases (5). However, Stumpflen, Stumpflen, Wimmer and Bernaschek found that cardiac abnormalities could be detected in a high proportion of low-risk fetuses. They offered detailed f...