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Echocardiography is the use of ultrasound to examine and measure the structure and functioning of the heart. In echocardiography, a small probe called a transducer is placed on your child's chest and sends out ultrasonic sound waves at a frequency too high to be heard.
When the transducer is placed in certain locations and at certain angles, the ultrasonic sound waves move through the skin and other body tissues to the heart tissues, where the waves bounce (or "echo") off of the heart structures. The transducer picks up the reflected waves and sends them to a computer. The computer interprets the echoes into an image of the heart walls and valves.
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Echocardiography (echo) is a procedure used to assess the heart's structures and function. The division of Non-Invasive Cardiology at Children's Hospital Boston, a center for excellence in cardiac imaging, performs approximately 16,000 echocardiograms each year.