Baptist's ECHO Lab Celebrates 30 Years

Jackson, Miss. - July 25, 2003 -- As the science of echocardiography marks its 50th year in 2003, Baptist's Echo Lab marks 30 years. Bill McManus, ARRT, RT, RDCS, performed Mississippi's first echocardiogram at Baptist in June 1973.

"In 1973, the tests were crude, but they allowed us to get a graphic representation of cardiac structures," said McManus. "Now, with today's quantitative Doppler imaging, we can calculate pressures within the heart, valve areas and other hemodynamic measurements that previously were only obtainable by catheterization."

"Echo studies are an integral part of the practice of cardiology," said cardiologist Dr. Earl Fyke, III, medical director of Baptist's Echo Lab. "It's hard to imagine the practice of cardiology without them. They are a mainstay of non-invasive imaging. These studies not only show us what the heart looks like, but also how it is working. All this is with no risk to the patient."

Because current echocardiography technology allows physicians to see both cardiac structure and function, including pressures and other hemodynamic factors, echo studies have replaced catheterization procedures for many patients. "For example, echo studies are the gold standard for evaluating most valvular and congenital heart disease," said Dr. Fyke.

McManus estimates that in 30 years, he has performed or viewed more than 100,000 echo studies. Baptist's Echo Lab performs approximately 7,000 echocardiograms annually. Baptist's Echo Lab was Jackson's first hospital-based lab to be accredited by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories (ICAEL).

"Echocardiography is extremely operator dependent," said Dr. Fyke. "You may have the most expensive equipment available, but without a good sonographer you can't get good information. The operator needs to know cardiac pathology and physiology to get the images a cardiologist needs. Bill McManus sets a very high standard, and the imaging here is of very high quality. He doesn't just give us the standard views. He and his staff pursue abnormalities to get to the bottom of things."

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