Non-invasive Echocardiography Laboratory

About the Laboratory

The Noninvasive Cardiology Laboratory at NYU is one of the busiest clinical laboratories in the nation. The laboratory is on the cutting edge of echocardiography, and performs over 10,000 studies a year. We first introduced outpatient transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) to New York City in 1988. At present we do approximately 1,500 TEEs a year, including in- and outpatients as well as intraoperative studies. The laboratory is also involved with all of the modalities of exercise and pharmacologic stress echocardiography. In 1994, 3-D electrocardiography was added to our armamentarium. The work of the laboratory is widely recognized and quoted. Members of the laboratory have been invited to participate in multiple national and international meetings, courses, and lectures. They have also been involved in multicenter studies including the Mitral Balloon Valvuloplasty Registry and the Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation (SPAF) study. Currently (2005), we are involved in a multicenter trial of a new non-surgical treatment for mitral regurgitation: the insertion of a clip via the femoral vein (done in the cardiac catheterization laboratory with TEE monitoring) which significantly reduces MR. We are also using newer echocardiographic modalities such as strain and strain rate imaging to assess patients in the ER with chest pain, and to evaluate patients with CHF who may be candidates for biventricular pacing. All the members of the laboratory review papers or serve on the editorial boards of most of the medical journals.

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Making an Appointment

To make an appointment at the Echocardiography Laboratory, call (212) 263-5664.
Or email:
Paul A. Tunick, MD
Robert M. Applebaum, MD
Joan O'Connell

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Ongoing Research

The investigation of atherosclerotic disease of the thoracic aorta as a cause of stroke and peripheral embolization:

  • First description of protruding aortic atheromas as source of embolization (Tunick PA, Kronzon, I. Protruding Atherosclerotic Plaque in the Aortic Arch of Patients with Systemic Embolization: A New Finding Seen by Transesophageal Echocardiography. American Heart Journal, 120:658-660, 1990.)
  • First Case-Control study that showed a correlation between atherosclerotic aortic lesions seen on TEE and emboli (Tunick PA, Perez JL, Kronzon I. Protruding Atheromas in the Thoracic Aorta and Systemic Embolization. Annals of Internal Medicine, 115:423-7, 1991.)
  • First Prospective Study, which showed a 33% risk of future embolic events in 14 months (Tunick PA, Katz ES, Freedberg RS, Rosenzweig BP, Perez JL, Kronzon I. High Risk for Vascular Events in Patients with Protruding Aortic Atheromas: A Prospective Study Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 23:1085-90, 1994.)
  • Association between protruding atheromas and stroke during heart surgery, (Stern A, Tunick PA, Culliford AT, Lachmann J, Baumann FG, Kanchuger M, Marschall K, Shah A, Grossi E, Kronzon I. Protruding Aortic Arch Atheromas: Risk of Stroke During Heart Surgery with and without Aortic Arch Endarterectomy. American Heart Journal, 138:746-52, 1999.
  • Association between homocyst(e)ineand aortic plaque size (Konecky N, Malinow MR, Tunick PA, Freedberg RS, Rosenzweig BP, Katz ES, Hess DL, Upson B, Perez J, Kronzon I.
    Correlation Between Plasma Homocyst(e)ine and Aortic Atherosclerosis. American Heart Journal, 133:534-40, 1997.
  • Correlation between echocardiographic and MRI in the evaluation of aortic plaque (Kutz SM, Lee V, Tunick PA, Krinsky G, Kronzon I. Atheromas of the Thoracic Aorta: A Comparison Of Transesophageal Echocardiography And Breath-Hold Gadolinium-Enhanced 3-D Magnetic Resonance Angiography. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography; 12:853-8, 1999.

Investigation of other sources of emboli:

  • Spontaneous echo contrast
  • Mitral valve strands
  • Right atrial tumors
  • Right atrial thrombi

A textbook, Cardiogenic Embolism

Daniel WG, Kronzon I, Mugge A, editors
Williams & Wilkins. This book has chapters by members of the Laboratory and other experts from around the world.

A new textbook, Challenging Cases in Echocardiography
Kronzon I, Tunick PA. Philadelphia: Lippincot, Williams, and Wilkins
92 unusual cases, with accompanying CD containing real-life videos, 2005

Multiple clinical papers and case reports on the uses of TTE and TEE in the following conditions:

  • Diagnosis and complications of endocarditis.
  • Evaluation of native and prosthetic valves.
  • Evaluation of intracardiac tumors and masses.
  • Evaluation of myocardial disease and hypertrophic cardiomyophathy.
  • Evaluation of pericardial disease and cardiac tamponade.
  • Aortic dissection.

The use of new ultrasonographic technologies:

  • Intravascular and intravascular and intracoronary ultrasound.
  • 3-Dimensional echocardiography.
  • Edge detection and acoustic quantification.
  • Contrast echocardiography
  • Strain and strain rate imaging

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Professional Staff

Itzhak Kronzon , MD Professor of Medicine, Director of the Laboratory

Paul A. Tunick, MD Professor of Medicine

Barry P.Rosenzweig, MD Associate Professor of Medicine

Robin S. Freedberg, MD Associate Professor of Medicine

Edward S. Katz, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine

Joan O'Connell, Administrative Assistant

Anthony Gargiulo, RDCS, Chief Sonographer

Catherine Guyton, RDCS, Sonographer

Matthew Varkey, RDCS, Sonographer

Winnie Dossie, RDCS, Sonographer

Maura Mullane, RDCS, Sonographer

Aniko Hersko, RDCS, Sonographer

Maria DeGennaro, RDCS, Sonographer

Mohamed Gasser, RDCS, Sonographer

William Sadler, RDCS, Sonographer

Anna Hamza, RDCS, Sonographer

Chi Kwan Leung, RDCS, Sonographer

Lynette Duncanson, RDCS, Sonographer

 

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