Cardiac Ultrasound

The Cardiac Ultrasound Department of our hospital is a modern specialized department integrating clinical diagnosis, teaching, and research. It has strong technical expertise, a well-structured professional talent pipeline, and advanced equipment, and performs ultrasound diagnosis of various heart and great-vessel diseases in infants, fetuses, and adults.

I. Professional Team

The department has an experienced and highly skilled professional team. It currently has 44 medical, technical, and nursing personnel: 22 physicians and 22 technical and nursing staff, including 4 chief physicians, 6 associate chief physicians, 6 attending physicians, and 6 resident physicians.

II. Scope of Diagnosis and Treatment and Technical Features

The department provides all services related to cardiac ultrasound, with a broad diagnostic and treatment scope and a complete range of technical procedures, mainly including:

Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE): Used to assess cardiac structure, function, hemodynamics, and common heart diseases.

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE): Provides clearer and more precise ultrasound diagnosis for the perioperative period of cardiac surgery, interventional treatment of structural heart disease, infective endocarditis, and assessment of the left atrial appendage in atrial fibrillation.

Fetal echocardiography: The department performs cardiac screening as part of prenatal examinations and also undertakes consultations for abnormal fetal cardiac malformations referred by hospitals at all levels across the province. It works with obstetrics, neonatology, and cardiac surgery to establish an integrated maternal-infant management and multidisciplinary consultation process. Its diagnosis and treatment of complex fetal cardiac malformations and critical and severe illnesses are at an advanced level within the province.

Stress echocardiography (exercise and pharmacological stress): Assesses myocardial ischemia, viable myocardium, and cardiac functional reserve.

Cardiac contrast echocardiography (right-heart contrast echocardiography and left-heart contrast echocardiography): Right-heart contrast echocardiography assesses cardiac structure and abnormal shunts.

Left-heart contrast echocardiography (myocardial perfusion): Enhances endocardial borders; the LVO mode provides a preliminary assessment of space-occupying lesions, while the MCE mode assesses myocardial perfusion.

Tissue Doppler imaging and myocardial strain techniques: Quantitatively assess myocardial motion and function and detect subclinical cardiac dysfunction at an early stage.

Three-dimensional echocardiography: Presents cardiac structures and valve morphology three-dimensionally, providing precise preoperative planning, intraoperative guidance, and postoperative evaluation for complex congenital heart disease, valvular disease, and other conditions.

Intraoperative monitoring and interventional guidance: During surgery, the department collaborates with cardiac surgery, cardiology, emergency medicine, and other departments to complete various cardiac interventional procedures, including transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), left atrial appendage closure, transcatheter edge-to-edge mitral valve repair (TEER), biodegradable atrial septal defect and ventricular septal defect closure, and intraoperative guidance for biodegradable patent foramen ovale closure, providing real-time ultrasound monitoring and precise guidance.

III. Research Achievements and Honors

The department has led 1 National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth project, 6 provincial natural science projects, 1 provincial major R&D project, 1 Jinan Science and Technology Innovation project, and 2 hospital-level teaching-reform projects.

IV. Mission and Vision

All colleagues in the Cardiac Ultrasound Department have always upheld the service philosophy of “putting patients at the center and quality at the core,” kept abreast of the forefront of cardiovascular imaging in China and abroad, continuously refined their techniques, and optimized service processes. We are committed to becoming a trusted partner of clinical cardiovascular teams, providing indispensable ultrasound imaging support for patients’ diagnosis, treatment decisions, and efficacy evaluation, and safeguarding patients’ cardiac health.

Clinical departments are welcome to inquire and cooperate!