Imaging procedures such as echocardiography, computerised tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allow a view of the heart from the outside. Cardiovascular Imaging Units make a decisive contribution to the early detection and optimal treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging

The Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the Benjamin Franklin Campus has many years of expertise in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This diagnostic procedure plays a decisive role in cardiovascular medicine. Cardiac MRI not only enables precise imaging of cardiac and extracardiac structures, but also tissue characterisation. This makes it possible, for example, to reliably determine whether a patient is suffering from myocardial ischaemia, which leads to an undersupply of blood to the heart muscle.

Cardiac MRI examinations are clinically particularly important in the assessment of patients with coronary heart disease for ischaemia testing and the differential diagnosis of cardiomyopathies and congenital heart disease.

In addition to functionality and anatomy, cardiac MRI can be used to obtain important information for ischaemia diagnostics in stress perfusion. This makes it possible to make a statement about the blood supply to the coronary arteries without ionising X-rays and without an invasive examination.

Registration for cardiac MRI

T: +49 30 450 513 870 / 871

F: +49 30 450 7 513 901

kardio-mrt@dhzc-charite.de

Echocardiography is an ultrasound examination of the heart. Doctors also refer to it as a ‘cardiac echo’. Ultrasound waves are emitted via a transducer and either ‘swallowed’ or reflected back by the body tissue. The transducer receives the reflected waves and converts them into electrical impulses that are displayed on a screen.

Echocardiography has undergone continuous further development in recent years. New technologies and innovative imaging techniques such as speckle tracking, 3D echocardiography and contrast medium echocardiography ensure greater precision and offer additional application possibilities.

The echocardiography team at CBF continuously evaluates the latest developments in terms of their quality and safety. Based on these results, the specialists at our clinic utilise technologies that are effective, safe and innovative. The doctors carry out their own investigations and monitor new treatment methods from a scientific perspective. Ultrasound examinations of the heart are carried out in the functional echocardiography laboratories.

Methods offered and examinations carried out:

• One-dimensional echocardiography (M-mode)
• Two-dimensional echocardiography (2D echo)
• Three-dimensional echocardiography (3D echo)
• Doppler echocardiography
• Contrast echocardiography
• Transoesophageal echocardiography
• Stress echocardiography
• Speckle Tracking / Tissue Doppler / Strain Rate Imaging / Integrated Backscatter

Education and training

• The Senior physicians in the Echocardiography Department are certified by the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI): The training and further training in our echocardiography laboratories follows the standards and quality assurance measures of the German Society of Cardiology (DGK) and the EACVI.
• Our clinic regularly organises certified echocardiography courses on various aspects of echocardiography under the auspices of the German Society of Cardiology (DGK) and the German Society of Ultrasound (DEGUM).
• The echocardiography team led by Dr. Ursula Wilkenshoff has played a leading role for many years in the publication of the ‘Handbuch der Echokardiographie’ (Echocardiography Manual), now one of the standard works on cardiac echocardiography.