TORONTO -- A new study suggests that a common imaging tool used to examine the heart may be helpful in evaluating COVID-19 patients at risk of developing heart issues that could increase the chance of heart failure or stroke. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Maryland took a retrospective look at around 80 COVID-19 patients and 34 patients without COVID-19, all of whom had received imaging tests called 2-D echocardiograms. Echocardiograms use sound waves through a transducer placed on the patientâs chest to create images of the heart walls and valves, sort of similar to how a bat uses echolocation to see.