what can an Echocardiogram tell me that an EKG or Halter Monitor cant?

Answer 1

An EKG monitors the electrical activity in the heart, and is used to pick up abnormal electrical activity that can signal damage to the heart muscle (such as a heart attack) or abnormal heart rhythm (such as heart block or atrial fibrillation). A Halter is a form of continuous portable EKG monitoring that is usually done over 24h and is meant to pick up abnormalities in heart rhythm that are not present all the time (such as paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia).

An echocardiogram involves using ulltrasound to image the flow of blood through the heart. It enables the cardiologist to visually pick up abnormal heart wall movements, and allows them to measure how well the heart is pumping blood. It is often used to assess how strongly the heart able to pump, and to evaluate patients with heart valve disease.

Answer 2

Wow, you can really get a wide variety of answers here...right, wrong or otherwise! CXLN gave a great and accurate answer to your question. Somebody that obviously knows what is going on. There are limits to what an echocardiogram can see...that's why there are two kinds. A TEE or transesophogeal echo actually takes a look at the back side of the heart. It can 'see' where they typical echo can't. As you can see in the name it looks from inside the throat, down the esophagus. The patient is lightly sedated (not completely knocked out) for this. It's not used routinely but if they want to see certain valves better or get a better look at wall motion on the back of the heart, it's the way to go. Hope this and the other answer are what you are looking for. Take care, Jeff the nurse in Nashville.

Answer 3

An echocardiogram and EKG are the same thing.
ECG is an abbreviation of echocardiogram but for some reason in the states they call it an EKG just to confuse you :-)
It gives readings on your heart rate and shows any arythmia's (not sure if that's spelt correctly) or problems with the heart rate.
I hope you are okay xx

Answer 4

I am sorry to all that have to say this but I have no faith in an ECHO...

I had two of them within a 5 hour period and they showed nothing....I ended up having triple by-pass heart surgery a few hours after that....thank god for other tests.....like MRI, Cats, EKG's, Cardiac Catheterization
there are others I am sure....but the cardio cath saved my life.........It was a horrible recovery, and it has been less than 2 years, a year and a half since I had it done......I have NO NO NO faith in the echo cardio .......I'd rather have a blood test.........I am still recovering and still have pain now and then.......the operation was a real B----............over 6 hours. I was lucky to have one of the best dr's in this field, as they told my family I probably would not make it. I spent 4 days in the Open Heart Recovery Room (usually 24-36 hours is it), I lost a lot of blood, and I am just lucky.

Answer 5

They are different tests the Echo looks at your heart (similar to a sonogram looks at a baby) while an EKG looks at rhythm or heart beat.

Answer 6

with an echogram you can see the heart valves and tell if they are opening and closing normally. Blood fllow through the heart and the large arteries can be observed.

Answer 7

and EKG is an echocardiogram

Answer 8

The size of the chambers of the heart.

Answer 9

do not depend on an ekg for answers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!if you do then you may end up dead before your time. that test will only show a problem if it is occuring at that moment!!!!!!!!!!! i had three done-showed nothing------- ended up in er . had to have three cornary stents implanted. if you are still having problems be persistant your life could depend on it!!!!!!!!!!