What is an Exercise Heart Ultrasound (Stress Echo)?
An Exercise Heart Ultrasound, (Stress Echocardiogram), sometimes called a stress echo, is a tool used to evaluate heart function by combining an exercise (stress) test with a heart ultrasound. Exercise Heart Ultrasound uses ultrasound waves to produce images of the heart both before (sometimes during) and immediately following exercise. Images of the heart at rest are compared with images of the heart during and/or after exercise to evaluate how the heart responds to exercise. In North America the test is performed by a specially trained technologist, called a sonographer, and is interpreted by a physician trained in reading exercise heart ultrasounds. During the exercise portion of the exam there will be a medical staff member, usually a physician, supervising the examination and there is sometimes a third person assisting. Patients that have physical limitations that cause them to be unable to exercise may be given a pharmacologic stress heart ultrasound (where a medication that simu
