Cardiac Imaging Unit

The Echocardiography-Doppler laboratory is part of the Heart Area Cardiac Imaging Unit and is located on the first floor of the blue courtyard in Tower A of the hospital, opposite the Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit.

Following a recent material and human restructuring, the Cardiac Imaging Unit, which benefits 14,000 patients a year, has three examination rooms equipped with high-precision 3D technology and other advanced applications, one of which is set up for patient and family information after complex procedures, and another equipped with a cycle-ergo-spirometer. It also has a workroom with computer terminals that allow for the analysis of digitalized images, which are currently connected to the hospital’s imaging network and the SSPA server. Additionally, it has a waiting area for outpatients.

The service portfolio includes ultrasound examinations in various modalities of echocardiography and Doppler. Basic modalities of M-mode, two-dimensional, spectral Doppler, color-coded Doppler, and tissue Doppler echocardiography are performed, as well as more advanced modalities, such as 3D imaging, myocardial deformation or strain studies, or the use of echo-contrasts or echo-enhancers, among others, which allow for a non-invasive but very advanced assessment of most heart diseases.

The service portfolio now also includes transesophageal echocardiography with 3D probes on all its equipment, and exercise echocardiography with oxygen consumption and pharmacological stress tests.

With these ultrasound applications, cases of very diverse complexity are handled: outpatients, patients admitted to cardiology, and other units. Furthermore, the collaboration of the Anesthesia and Cardiac Surgery services is now a consolidated reality, performing systematic intraoperative echocardiography on cardiac surgery patients. This provides greater safety in results and allows for the performance of new techniques in reparative surgery for valves, the aorta, and ventricular reconstruction.

Healthcare Activity

Healthcare activity is mainly carried out during the morning, but also in the afternoon, in collaboration with other cardiologists from the cardiology service. It is specifically staffed by cardiologists with training in advanced echocardiography, who ensure continuity of care for complex procedures, and support cardiologists with specialized training in congenital heart disease, oxygen consumption stress tests, and cardiac rehabilitation, along with cardiology residents, nursing staff, and orderlies. With the new organization and expansion of the service portfolio, more than 800 examinations are performed monthly.

The most frequent classic indications are the diagnosis and monitoring of heart diseases such as valvular, ischemic, cardiomyopathies, embolic sources, or congenital heart diseases. To these have been added indications including pre- and post-implantation assessment of percutaneous intracardiac devices for the closure of intracardiac communications, closure of prosthetic dehiscence, percutaneous aortic prosthesis implantation, mitral valve repair using mitral clips (with others now being incorporated for the tricuspid valve), and appendage closure with intracavitary devices, as well as valvular assessment for reparative heart valve surgery.

It is worth noting that the Cardiac Imaging Unit also provides indispensable support in direct monitoring via 3D transesophageal echocardiography for especially complex procedures in the Hemodynamics laboratory, such as the correction of mitral regurgitation using mitral clips, appendage occlusion, or the closure of prosthetic dehiscence using intracardiac devices.

In addition to healthcare activity aimed at patients with the aforementioned cardiac pathologies, support is provided to other services, both for hospitalization and on an outpatient basis, with special collaboration with Oncology and Infectious Diseases, which have their own schedule for better patient organization, as well as Neurology, with a novel screening program for abnormalities predisposing to strokes without a detected cause.

The Echocardiography laboratory is integrated into the Cardiac Imaging Unit, which includes the incorporation of other diagnostic imaging techniques, such as coronary CT angiography and aortic CT angiography, and cardiac magnetic resonance, thanks to coordination with the Radiology Service, whose analysis using specific software allows for a more complete assessment of the patient.

Teaching Activity

The teaching activity is mainly aimed at cardiology residents, having trained more than 20 classes of cardiologists, but also at intensive care and cardiovascular surgery residents, as well as family and community medicine residents, and other specialties, since 2020.

In addition, internships are provided and echocardiography seminars are taught to students of the Faculty of Medicine, along with clinical review and/or update sessions for the rest of the Cardiology Service.

Research Activity

The research activity maintains several lines; some specific to the Imaging Unit within the Heart Area, primarily focused on interventionism in structural heart disease, heart failure with advanced therapies such as cardiac resynchronization, or ventricular assists, which have been generating publications in high impact factor journals for years.

Furthermore, the Cardiac Imaging Unit of the Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de la Victoria collaborates on research lines with other services, such as Oncology and Neurology, through both collaborative projects and clinical trials.

As a new development, it has opened advanced echocardiography training for cardiologists through research grants.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, research on cardiovascular involvement in patients infected by the virus is a priority in this Unit.

Mission of the Heart Area

The mission of the Heart Area of the Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de la Victoria is to improve the quality of life and resolve the vascular health challenges of individuals in an innovative and sustainable way, within a friendly, high-quality, safe, and personalized environment.