Services
The Echo Core Lab's services are available to all investigators within and external to Mayo Clinic who need third-party interpretation of echocardiographic data for clinical trials.
Contact us to request Echo Core Lab services or to send a request for proposal.
A cardiologist and sonographer from our lab review requests or discuss study requests with investigators directly and then submit a bid proposal outlining a plan of services and estimated cost.
Our experts offer guidance about imaging protocol design to define specific echo measurements that will be most relevant and feasible for each study. We also can help prepare proposals to submit for funding, such as National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant proposals.
Project teams
We form a team of sonographers and physician echocardiologists for each project to minimize measurement variability. We also create an operation manual for each study and conduct training sessions for echo personnel at clinical sites.
These training sessions are offered in a variety of formats to accommodate all needs:
- Webinars.
- Group sessions at the investigators' meeting.
- Telephone conference calls.
- One-on-one training.
After completing the training session, each clinical site sends up to five echo studies that contain all images and Doppler recordings necessary for the study to be certified to begin echo examination.
Echo studies performed at the clinical sites are typically transmitted via an electronic medium. The echo study uploaded by the clinical site is then downloaded to a server by our lab team. Each study is entered into the Echo Core Lab database and submitted for analysis.
Echo measurements
We use Digisonics workstations for almost all echo measurements, except for strain and 3D analysis. Our research sonographers perform all initial echo measurements according to the protocol and standardized method.
Digital frames with the measurements made are stored so that they can be audited or reviewed if necessary. After sonographer measurements, physician staff overread and approve them.
All semiquantitative or complex assessments are made by a physician staff member of the Echo Core Lab. These assessments can include visual estimation of ejection fraction, severity of valvular regurgitation, wall motion abnormalities, and ventricular systolic and diastolic function.
Sonographer and physician readers at Mayo Clinic provide the quality score, with input from a biostatistics team dedicated to the Echo Core Lab for the previously determined items (2D parameters, Doppler recordings or color flow imaging). Our team also provides critiques or suggestions to improve study quality or for adding missing data.
Measurements, the quality score and individualized critiques are sent to the clinical sites and the sponsor.
The Echo Core Lab participates in subsequent statistical analyses and publications of the study results that use our data.