Call 999 if you have chest pain that is severe, lasts more than 15 minutes, or comes with sweating, sickness or breathlessness — particularly if you have had a heart attack before. Do not wait for a scheduled scan.
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After a heart attack, an echocardiogram is used to measure how well the heart is pumping, which areas of muscle were affected, whether any valve has been damaged, and whether complications have developed. A scan is normally done during the admission and repeated some weeks or months later to see how much function has recovered. These scans are arranged by your cardiology team, and the results feed directly into decisions about medication and devices.
A heart attack happens when blood flow to part of the heart muscle is blocked. The muscle supplied by that artery is starved of oxygen, and some of it is injured or dies. What happens next is not fixed. Some muscle that looked lifeless in the first days recovers over the following weeks as the blood supply is restored and swelling settles. Some does not.
Imaging exists to answer that question. Specifically:
During the admission. An echocardiogram is standard before discharge. It establishes the baseline and picks up early complications while they can still be acted on quickly.
A few weeks to a few months later. This is the important one. Heart muscle that was stunned rather than dead can recover, and the ejection fraction measured in the first days is often not the number you end up with. Repeating the scan once things have settled gives the true picture.
That timing is not administrative. If the ejection fraction remains significantly reduced after a proper period on optimal medication, it opens a conversation about an implantable defibrillator. Scanning too early risks acting on a number that would have improved; leaving it too long delays a decision that protects against sudden cardiac death.
Ongoing. If function stays reduced, or you develop new symptoms such as breathlessness, swollen ankles or palpitations, repeat imaging is used to track change.
A follow-up echocardiogram after a heart attack is not a general heart check. It is answering specific questions for a specific reader — the cardiologist making the next decision. A useful report covers, at minimum:
| What is reported | Why the cardiologist needs it |
|---|---|
| Left ventricular function — ejection fraction, with the method used | Drives medication choices and defibrillator eligibility |
| Wall motion — which segments are impaired and how severely | Shows which territory was affected and whether it has recovered |
| Valve status — particularly the mitral valve | New leaking after a heart attack changes management |
| Complications — clot in the ventricle, aneurysm, fluid around the heart | May require anticoagulation or urgent referral |
| Right ventricle and pressures | Relevant where the right side was involved or symptoms persist |
| Comparison with previous imaging where available | Direction of travel matters more than a single snapshot |
The patients we scan in this group are almost always referred rather than self-referring. They come from cardiology or from a post-discharge team, and the request is specific: an echocardiogram to assess recovery and function after a heart attack.
That shapes how we report. The referring cardiologist has a decision waiting on the other side of the report — whether to adjust medication, whether to escalate, whether the patient meets criteria for a device. So the report has to clearly cover left ventricular function, wall motion, valve status, and any complications relevant to that next decision. A report that says the scan was satisfactory is not useful to someone deciding whether a defibrillator is indicated.
It also means we are working inside a plan someone else has set. We do not set surveillance intervals for post-heart-attack patients, and we would not encourage anyone to arrange this imaging outside their cardiology follow-up.
Describes our referral pattern in general terms rather than any individual patient.
Usually some weeks to a few months afterwards, once medication has been optimised and any stunned muscle has had time to recover. Your cardiologist sets the interval based on how the initial scan looked and how you are doing.
It often does, particularly where the artery was reopened quickly and where medication is optimised. Improvement is not guaranteed, and it varies with how much muscle was permanently damaged. The repeat scan is what tells you.
No. Ultrasound cannot image the coronary arteries directly. It shows the effect on the heart muscle. Assessing the arteries themselves needs CT coronary angiography or invasive angiography.
Follow-up imaging is based on what the earlier scan showed and on your treatment plan, not only on symptoms. Reduced pumping function frequently causes no symptoms at all in the early stages, which is exactly why it is measured rather than guessed at.
Yes. Where your cardiologist has requested surveillance imaging, we can carry out the echocardiogram and send the report to them directly. Bring the referral or the request details so we report against the right questions. The scan costs £350.
You receive instant verbal results at the appointment, with the written report following within 24 hours — including to your referring cardiologist where you have asked us to send it.
If you have not been asked to have follow-up imaging, speak to your cardiology team first. Surveillance after a heart attack works best inside a plan rather than alongside one. Our cardiac imaging is led by Hootan Mohsenian, MSc — Advanced Practitioner in Echocardiography.
CQC-registered clinic · HCPC-registered sonographers · BMUS member · ICO-registered. Reports can be shared securely with your NHS GP or specialist at your request.
