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Echocardiogram
An echocardiogram is a painless, non-invasive test, which uses sound waves, or "ultrasound", to produce a visual image of the heart. The test reveals any structural problems in the heart and shows how efficiently the heart and valves are working, the direction in which the blood is flowing and the size of the heart chambers.
The transesophageal echocardiogram is similar to the echocardiogram except a small, flexible probe is passed into the esophagus. This type of test allows clearer imaging of certain areas of the heart which are too hard to see with the standard echocardiogram. MeritCare performs 4,000 echocardiograms and 200 transesophageal echocardiograms each year.