In conjunction with the Bethesda Heart Institute, Bethesda Memorial Hospital was named the first hospital in Palm Beach County to receive the distinguished Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories accreditation.
Kiswana Russell, spokeswoman for the hospital, said hospitals that are accredited by ICAEL have met the national standards for all aspects of echocardiography testing for the diagnosis of heart disorders and disease.
An echocardiogram, often referred to in the medical community as a cardiac ECHO or simply an ECHO, is a sonogram of the heart. Also known as a cardiac ultrasound, it uses standard ultrasound techniques to image two-dimensional slices of the heart. The latest ultrasound systems now employ 3D real-time imaging.
The accreditation ensures that the facility has been critiqued and approved by medical experts in the field of echocardiography throughout the United States and Canada.
Russell said ICAEL accreditation is widely supported by the American Society of Echocardiography, American College of Cardiology, Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography and the Society of Pediatric Echocardiography.
The Echocardiography Department at Bethesda Memorial Hospital offers echocardiogram with Doppler, with or without contrast, transesophageal echocardiogram, stress echocardiogram and pediatric echocardiogram.
Mike Rothman can be reached at mkrothman@tribune.com.