How do doctors interpret an echocardiogram?

See below: We look at the heart muscle, the valves, the other blood vessels. We look at the structures themselves to see if they are normal or not. Valves for instance can be thickened or have calcium in them. The heart muscle can be too thick or may not contract normally. The doppler part involves looking at the direction and speed of flow of the blood. It might tell us that a valve is leaking or blocked.

Experience : We use a combination of subjective opinion while viewing a live or recorded image and actual measurement of size, flow, and function. We then compare this data to known normals. Experience is very important in interpreting these exams.