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ECHO - requesting

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Checked: 08-02-2024 by Vicky Ryan Next Review: 07-02-2025

Echo for suspected Heart Failure

Echo for other reasons

Indications for Echocardiography

Please review the indications for echo from the British Society of Echocardiography before requesting:

Indications for echocardiography.pdf (bsecho.org)
Primary care triaging poster (bsecho.org) - Clinical conditions in which transthoracic echocardiography is not routinely indicated at the time of initial clinical contact.

Echo requests in children

Direct access to echocardiograms in children aged under 16 is not available to GPs and referrals should be made to a paediatric cardiologist via eRS.

Requesting an Echo

Referrals for Echo should be made on ICE:

NBT - Echocardiograms should be ordered via an ICE request.
BRI - Echocardiograms should be ordered via an ICE request.
Weston General Hospital- Echocardiograms should be ordered via Weston ICE only (Go to Panel: GP Radiology, Page: US Cardiac, Test: Cardiac Echo) If you are unable to request a WGH Echo on ICE please contact dept 01934 647030.

Advice on Echo Requests

If the patient has had a previous echo, please include the date of study and summary of findings in the request.
It is recommended that studies are performed in the same echo department as previous scans, to allow side-by-side comparison of imaging.
Do not request multiple echos from different providers- e.g. from BRI and NBT.
If referring for suspected heart failure then the NT-proBNP result must be provided on the echo request to allow for appropriate triaging.

Resources

British Society for Echocardiography posters:

Clinical Indications and Triage of Echocardiography - Heart valve disease

Clinical Indications and Triage of Echocardiography - Out-patient requests (excluding the follow-up of established valve disease)

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