Cardiovascular Diseases in Florida

Echocardiography Laboratory

The Echocardiography Laboratory at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville is accredited by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories (ICAEL).

The Echocardiography Laboratory at Mayo Clinic in Florida provides state-of-the-art echocardiographic evaluations at three sites. At the main campus in the Davis Building, 10,000 outpatient studies are done yearly. These include transthoracic studies, exercise echocardiograms and dobutamine stress echocardiograms. The laboratory provides services for both inpatients and outpatients. Echocardiography services also are provided at the St. Augustine Primary Care office twice a week.

The laboratory is accredited in Adult Transthoracic, Adult Stress and Adult Tranesophageal Echocardiography by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories (ICAEL). Echocardiography is a complex imaging technique that relies on the experience and training of both the physician and the sonographer. Their interpretive and technical abilities determine the diagnostic accuracy of an echocardiographic examination. ICAEL evaluates the quality of the interpretive and technical abilities of echocardiography laboratories. This voluntary accreditation shows the commitment of the Echocardiography Laboratory at Mayo Clinic in Florida to provide high quality diagnostic evaluations and patient care.

Echocardiography allows doctors to noninvasively assess the heart's anatomy and function and to obtain measures of the blood flow inside the heart. Echocardiography is the diagnostic test of choice for evaluating patients with heart valve disease. Exercise and dobutamine echocardiography are extremely useful in evaluating patients with possible or known coronary artery disease. They are also used to evaluate patients before undergoing non-cardiac surgery. Transesophageal echocardiography gives doctors an excellent look at all the structures of the heart and is well suited for all the above indications as well as to evaluate patients after transient ischemic attacks (TIA's) and stroke. In addition, transesophageal echocardiography is used during surgery to optimize the success of cardiac or non-cardiac surgery. Transesophageal echocardiography services are provided in conjunction with the Division of Anesthesia Services. Contrast echocardiography, which gives doctors a better look at endocardial borders, is routinely used.

Echocardiography Laboratory Staff

The interpretive and technical abilities of the staff determine the diagnostic accuracy of an echocardiographic examination.

The Echocardiography Lab is staffed by eight cardiologist, 12 sonographers, one registered nurse and three support personnel.

Laboratory Co-Directors:

Joseph L. Blackshear, M.D.
Robert E. Safford, M.D.

Physicians:

Gary E. Lane, M.D.
Keith R. Oken, M.D.
Timothy E. Paterick, M.D.
J. Norman Patton, M.D.
Steven Ung, M.D.

Nurse:

Nancy Roebuck, registered nurse