Echocardiography and vascular ultrasound are two noninvasive, painless procedures that can assess the function of your heart and help to diagnose cardiac and blood vessel disorders. Both tests use high-frequency sound waves to produce their images, so you are not exposed to any radiation.

Using ultrasound probes placed in various locations on your chest, we will be able to record detailed images of your heart at work.

These images provide your physician with essential information about how well your heart muscle and valves are working, the level of pressures in your heart, and how blood is flowing through the heart.

If standard echocardiography and vascular ultrasound has not given your doctor all the information he needs about your heart function, you may undergo a transesophageal echocardiogram. During this test, the ultrasound transducer is guided down your esophagus using a thin, flexible tube called an endoscope. The TEE can provide a closer look at the chambers and valves of your heart without interference from bony structures like your rib cage. Because this test can be uncomfortable, it is performed under light intravenous sedation. It is an outpatient procedure, although you should have someone accompany you to bring you home.

Our exams are performed at several different locations, to make an appointment or to inquire further, please contact:

• The Milstein Family Heart Center
  173 Fort Washington Avenue, 4th Floor, room 637
  Phone: 212.305.3956
  Fax: 212.305.1769
  
  Outpatient echocardiography and vascular ultrasound exams are performed here. This new, state-of-the-art heart hospital is a tertiary care facility that can manage the most complex cases.
  
  
• The Milstein Flanzer Cardiac Center
  177 Fort Washington Avenue, 2nd Floor
  Phone: 212.305.9875 Fax: 212.305.9049
  
  Both inpatient and outpatient echocardiography and vascular ultrasound exams are performed here. TEE is only available at this location.
  
  
• The Allen Pavilion
  5141 Broadway, 2nd Floor, 2CW, Room 114
  Phone: 212.932.4542 Fax: 212.932.5335
  
  Inpatient and outpatient echocardiography and vascular ultrasound exams can also be performed at this site.
  
  
• Columbia Physicians
  1790 Broadway, 12th Floor @ Columbus Circle
  Phone: 212.373.5200 Fax: 212.373.5235
  
  Outpatient echocardiography exams performed here.
  
  
• Columbia Eastside
  16 East 60th Street, 4th Floor, Room 460
  Phone: 212.326.8920 Fax: 212.326.8925
  
  Outpatient echocardiography and vascular ultrasound exams are performed here.

Each location is fully staffed by specialized cardiac and vascular ultrasound attending physicians and sonographers. All of the records of your studies are stored digitally in a central location and read by experts.