Cardiac Imaging & Echocardiography Services in Florida
A picture of your heart — its size, shape, valve function, and how strongly it’s pumping — tells your cardiologist more than almost any other test. At Florida Heart & Vascular Institute, we offer the full spectrum of non-invasive cardiac imaging at all nine of our Florida clinic locations. No hospital referral required. No weeks of waiting. Your cardiologist orders the study, it’s performed on-site, and results are reviewed with you directly.
Why Is Cardiac Imaging Ordered?
Cardiac imaging gives your cardiologist a real-time, structural view of your heart — something an EKG or blood test alone cannot provide. It’s used to evaluate shortness of breath, chest pain, heart murmurs, heart failure, valve disease, cardiomyopathy, and congenital abnormalities. It also guides treatment decisions: helping your cardiologist determine whether a valve needs to be repaired, how well a previously treated heart is recovering, or whether a medication adjustment is working.
Types of Cardiac Imaging We Offer
Transthoracic Echocardiogram (TTE) — Standard Echo
The transthoracic echocardiogram is the workhorse of cardiac imaging. A sonographer applies gel to your chest and moves a handheld probe (transducer) across specific positions to capture ultrasound images of your heart from multiple angles. You’ll see your heart beating in real-time on the monitor — chambers contracting, valves opening and closing, blood flowing.
A standard echo takes 30–45 minutes. You don’t need to fast. You don’t need sedation. You can drive yourself home. And the information it provides is extraordinary: chamber sizes and wall thickness, ejection fraction (a measure of pumping strength), valve function (stenosis, regurgitation, prolapse), pericardial fluid, and wall motion abnormalities. Most patients are surprised by how much their cardiologist can see in a painless, 45-minute outpatient test.
Stress Echocardiogram
A stress echocardiogram combines a standard echocardiogram with exercise or pharmacologic stress. Echo images are taken at rest, then immediately after peak stress. By comparing how the heart wall moves at rest versus under exertion, your cardiologist can identify areas of the heart that aren’t receiving adequate blood flow — a sign of coronary artery disease that might not be apparent on a resting echo. This test is particularly useful for evaluating chest pain and breathlessness during physical activity.
Transesophageal Echocardiogram (TEE)
For some patients, getting a clear view through the chest wall is difficult — due to body habitus, lung disease, or the need to see specific structures like the back of the heart. In these cases, a TEE offers superior imaging quality.
A TEE uses a specialized ultrasound probe passed through the mouth into the esophagus — which lies directly behind the heart. Because there are no ribs or lungs in the way, the image quality is exceptional. TEE is particularly valuable for evaluating heart valves before repair or replacement, detecting blood clots in the atria before cardioversion for AFib, and assessing for endocarditis (infection of the heart valves). You’ll be mildly sedated for comfort and will need someone to drive you home afterward.
Nuclear Cardiology — Myocardial Perfusion Imaging (MPI)
Nuclear cardiac imaging assesses blood flow to the heart muscle itself. A small amount of a radioactive tracer is injected into a vein and travels through the blood. A specialized gamma camera captures images showing how much tracer — and therefore how much blood — reaches different regions of the heart muscle, both at rest and during stress.
Reduced uptake in a region of the heart indicates reduced blood supply — either from a partial blockage (ischemia) or from scar tissue left by a prior heart attack (infarction). Nuclear MPI is one of the most sensitive tests available for diagnosing coronary artery disease and is particularly powerful in patients whose EKG makes standard stress testing difficult to interpret.
Dobutamine Stress Echo
For patients who cannot exercise and require both cardiac imaging and stress testing, a dobutamine stress echo is performed. An IV medication (dobutamine) is given to increase heart rate and cardiac demand, while echocardiogram images are captured at multiple stress levels. This test provides the same information as a standard stress echo — evaluating wall motion and blood flow during ‘exercise conditions’ — without any physical exertion by the patient.
What Your Echo Results Mean: Key Terms Explained
- Ejection Fraction (EF): The percentage of blood pumped out of the left ventricle with each heartbeat. Normal is 55–70%. A reduced EF (under 40%) indicates heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and guides specific medication choices.
- Wall Motion Abnormality: A region of the heart wall not contracting normally. May indicate current ischemia (blocked artery) or prior heart attack (scar tissue).
- Valve Regurgitation: A leaky heart valve — blood flowing backward when the valve should be closed. Graded mild, moderate, or severe.
- Valve Stenosis: A narrowed heart valve — restricting normal blood flow through it. Most commonly affects the aortic valve in older patients.
- Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH): Thickening of the heart muscle wall, most commonly caused by long-standing high blood pressure. Increases cardiac risk and is a target for treatment.
- Pericardial Effusion: Fluid in the sac surrounding the heart. Small amounts may be normal; large amounts can impair heart function and require urgent drainage.
Frequently Asked Questions: Cardiac Imaging & Echocardiography
A: For a standard resting echocardiogram, no — your medications will not affect the imaging and there’s no need to fast or change anything about your routine. If you’re having a stress echocardiogram, your cardiologist may ask you to hold certain medications (particularly beta-blockers that lower heart rate) and to avoid caffeine. Your scheduling team will give you specific instructions based on the type of imaging ordered.
A: Yes — an echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart. It uses the same fundamental technology as an obstetric ultrasound or an abdominal scan: high-frequency sound waves that bounce off heart structures and create real-time images. The difference is the specialized training required to perform and interpret cardiac ultrasound and the specific anatomical structures being examined.
A: A standard resting transthoracic echo takes 30–45 minutes from the time you’re placed on the exam table. If additional measurements or a contrast agent are needed, it may extend to 60–75 minutes. A stress echo or TEE takes longer — plan for 60–90 minutes and 2–3 hours respectively.
A: A TEE involves passing a probe through your throat, which sounds intimidating — but you’ll receive a numbing spray for your throat and IV sedation to keep you comfortable and relaxed. Most patients have little or no memory of the procedure itself. Your throat may feel mildly sore for a day or two afterward, similar to swallowing a large pill. You’ll need someone to drive you home because of the sedation.
A: The radiation dose from a nuclear stress test is very low — comparable to a few months of normal background radiation you’d receive just living in the United States. The tracers used (technetium-based or thallium) are cleared from the body within hours to days. The benefit of diagnosing — or ruling out — significant coronary artery disease far outweighs this minimal radiation exposure. If you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, tell your cardiologist before scheduling, as alternative imaging approaches will be considered.
A: An ejection fraction of 35% is below the normal range of 55–70% and indicates that your left ventricle isn’t pumping as efficiently as it should. This doesn’t mean you’re in immediate danger, but it does mean your cardiologist will want to understand why — whether it’s related to a prior heart attack, cardiomyopathy, valve disease, or another cause — and start you on guideline-directed medications that are proven to improve heart function over time. Many patients with reduced EF respond very well to treatment and see significant improvement with appropriate management.
A: In many cases, yes — particularly if you have an appointment with your cardiologist and imaging is clinically indicated at that visit. We offer cardiac imaging at all nine of our Florida locations, so in-office same-day imaging is often possible without a separate scheduling delay. Call (352) 572-7730 to ask about same-day imaging availability at your nearest FHVI clinic.
A: Both examine the heart, but they provide different types of information using different technology. An echocardiogram uses ultrasound to show real-time heart structure and function — valve movement, chamber size, ejection fraction, wall motion. A cardiac CT scan uses X-ray to create detailed anatomical images of the coronary arteries (CT angiogram) or to quantify calcium deposits in artery walls (calcium score). Your cardiologist will choose the right imaging modality based on the specific clinical question they’re trying to answer.
Book Your Cardiac Catheterization Consultation — Call (352) 572-7730