Diagnosis
Physical Diagnosis
The first step in diagnosis is a physical check up. This is when a doctor uses a stethoscope to listen to your heart. The doctor listens for the regular "lub" and "dub", the sound of the valves in the heart closing. They mainly listen for heart murmurs, which are swishing sounds caused by blood trying to rush through the stenotic or leaky valve. By hearing this, doctors can help determine if you have heart valve disease.
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They also check the sound of your lungs. If there is fluid in the lungs, that means that the heart is not pumping as well as it should be.
Electrocardiograms
Echocardiograms
This uses sound waves to create a moving image of the heart beating. The sound waves are emitted, and picked up as echoes. These are then converted to images on a screen. It helps see the size and shape of heart and valves, heart's ability to pump blood, and to check if valves are narrow or loose. This can be done through the chest, or through transesophageal echocardiogram (tube is put down esophagus and then echocardiogram is taken from inside).
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