PET/CT is currently the most advanced imaging technique for heart muscle. This stress test provides your physician with superior images for an accurate diagnosis. The test does not require walking on a treadmill and can be completed in approximately 45 minutes. It also results in less radiation exposure than a traditional SPECT exam.
Posts Tagged ‘Cardiac’
PET/CT Cardiac Stress Test with Rubidium
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010Learn about Cardiac Stress Test
Thursday, April 1st, 2010If you want to measure the amount of toxins in someone’s arteries, you have to surely undergo a cardiac stress test. Through this type of diagnosis, the condition of heart can be determined (especially, the people who have experienced a minor attack) and as per the report, the patient can take medications. Coronary artery disease is the principal cause of having heart attack, sudden death and even a mild chest pain. Cardiac stress test can help you to realize whether there is any hidden heart disease in your heart. Though the result of Cardiac test varies from person to person, the solution is quite similar – you have to change your life style and that also includes a change in your eating habits. A cardiac Stress test is also helpful to trace the faults in arteries so that a future heart attack can be avoided.
There are two types of procedures by which a cardiac patient can be cured from effects of heart attack- exercise and the physiologic. The person, who suffers from a heart attack but is strong enough, can go for the cardio exercises in order to improve the condition of the heart. The aged people having severe heart attack must go for the physiologic session. This is ideal for weaker or disabled people to recover from post heart attack effects. At the time of undergoing the cardiac stress test, the patient has to take a treadmill session with a fixed speed. This helps to know about the rate of heart beat, the general physical feelings and blood pressure can also determined from this type of cardiac test. So the medications and exercises can be prescribed accordingly to cure the problem.
How Is A Cardiac Stress Test Performed?
Monday, February 22nd, 2010If you have a cardiac stress test scheduled, or if you have concerns about your heart, you may want to understand how a cardiac stress test is performed. This article provides you with the basic background information you need to understand how these tests are performed.
A cardiac stress test is used to evaluate the way your heart and vascular system respond and work together under stress. By stress, what is meant is exercise or exertion. This helps answer two very important questions, 1. Is there any underlying heart disease, how bad is it and secondly is there only underlying heart disease that is obvious when the heart is stressed.
A cardiac stress test is performed by hooking the patient up to an EKG machine. This EKG machine constantly monitors the electrical activity of the heart. There is also a blood pressure cuff placed on the arm of the patient so that blood pressure is monitored at periodic intervals through the test. Some facilities may also attach a little machine to the finger to monitor the level of oxygen in the blood.
Once there is a baseline EKG, which is an EKG showing what your heart is like daily the patient will begin low level exercise. This usually means that the patient is walking on a treadmill and a fairly slow pace or the patient could be pedaling a stationary bike. At three minute intervals the level of intensity of the exercise will increase. At each interval the heart rate, blood pressure and EKG are recorded, you will also be asked if you are having any symptoms.
The ideal stress test is one that is performed with the incremental increases in intensity until the patient is not able to continue, whether that is from fatigue, chest pain, shortness of breath, light headedness or chest tightness. The stress test can also be considered ideal or maximal if there are changes noted in the EKG during the test. Remember, that symptoms are not necessarily indicative of a problem, and lack of symptoms is not indicative of there be no problem.
A stress test that is considered less then ideal or submaximal is a cardiac stress test where the patient is only able to exercise to a pre-determined level. One may wonder why a doctor would have a test performed purposely that is submaximal. If it is known that the patient has coronary artery disease the cardiac stress test then is not used to determine the presence of the disease just to see if there is any progression of the disease.
Once the test is finished the patient is monitored until any and all symptoms go away. Technicians also make sure that all vital signs return to normal or baseline vital signs. Once the testing is done you are free to go and it can take a few days before the results are available to your doctor. You will be contacted by your doctor once he or she has had the chance to fully interpret the results. Good luck with your stress test, and here’s to a healthy and strong heart!
How Do I Prepare For A Cardiac Stress Test?
Saturday, February 20th, 2010Do you have a cardiac stress test scheduled? If so, you may have some questions about how to properly prepare for the test. Don’t worry! The preparations are simple. You don’t need to do much… The preparation for a cardiac stress test is fairly simple and straight forward (there’s no studying required, the most important thing is that you show up on time).
There are a few additional things you need to consider before your cardiac stress test. First, you will need to avoid any stimulant for at least three hours prior to testing. Stimulants include caffeine which can be found in chocolate, tea, soda and coffee. There are also some pain relievers that contain caffeine and those need to be avoided as well. Alcohol is another stimulant that you need to avoid for at least three hours prior to testing.
You will want to continue all medications unless your doctor has instructed you otherwise. In most cases if you take a prescription medication that is used to control the heart rate your doctor may have you hold this medication for 24 hours prior to testing. The reason for this is that part of the cardiac stress test is to increase your heart rate to your target rate and keep you there to monitor the activity of your heart.
Make sure that you go to the appointment in comfortable clothes. Clothing that is breathable, easy for you to move in and comfortable. Make sure that you are wearing comfortable shoes that will be able to walk and possibly jog in as the levels of intensity in the exercise increases.
Men will need to tell their doctor and or technician whether or not they have taken any medications to combat erectile dysfunction in the last twenty four hours. The reason for this is because if you experience any chest pain during testing and nitroglycerin needs to be given the combination of medications such as Viagra and nitroglycerin can be dangerous if not deadly.
You should be able to drive yourself to and from your cardiac stress test. Depending on the type of cardiac stress test you have done will determine the amount of time the test will take. Treadmill stress tests can last about 45 minutes start to finish, stress echocardiograms can last a little over an hour and nuclear stress test last about 4 hours.
If you are diabetic you will want to have a snack before your testing, especially if you are going to have the nuclear stress test done. Eating a light meal the morning of your test is acceptable, making sure that you are not eating a heavy meal which could lead to nausea and vomiting due to the full stomach and exercise.
It is always advisable that you take with you a complete list of all medications, the dosage that you take and how often you take them. If you have any questions that have not been answered yet, make sure to take those questions with you to the test and the nurse, doctor or technician will be able to answer them for you.
Reasons Why Those At Risk Should Take A Cardiac Stress Test
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010If you have certain medical symptom such as hypertension, diabetes, rapid or irregular heart beats, and so on, your doctor may request that you take a stress test. Normal heart test such as listening through a stethoscope, taking heart beat and blood pressure, etcetera, cannot detect many heart problems. The reason is that most of these test are given while the patient is at rest. Many problems of the heart and circulatory system only manifest themselves when under stress.
Cardiac stress tests are normally only given to patients meeting certain heart risk criteria. These criteria would be those patients who are most at risk for coronary problems. This includes those with hypertension, diabetes, patients with a family history of heart problems, people who smoke or are overweight are all potential candidates having a cardiac stress test prescribed by their doctor. Also, anyone who has ever had a heart operation, will probably have follow-up cardiac stress tests as well. Should you take one or not? Only your doctor can best determine whether it’s a good idea for you.
A special type of cardiac stress test is the thallium stress test. A thallium stress test makes use of a scintillation scan to measure the functionality of the heart. A scintillation scan uses a gamma camera for recording and an intravenously administered radioisotope, thallium-201, to highlight the affected areas of the heart muscle. This allows a physician to pinpoint very accurately the areas of the heart which might not be performing normally. The additional information gained by such a scan is vast. It shows heart muscle scarring, coronary blockages, lung circulation – just about everything the doctor needs to know to determine if any potential problems are on the horizon.
A scintillation scan can be used while the patient is at rest or while he’s in motion. If used when the patient is exercising, it can highlight the heart contractions and expansions letting the doctor see, in real time, which areas of the coronary arteries might not be receiving enough oxygen.
A normal stress test starts by having the patient hooked up to an electrocardiogram machine. The patient may ride a bike or walk on a treadmill. The symptoms monitored for are – changes in blood pressure, breathing rate, and heartbeat rate. The technician will also be on the lookout for signs of angina, or chest pain, as well as irregular heart beats. As the test progresses, the incline of the machine will be slowly raised to force the patient to work a little harder. The stress test will normally last between 15 and 20 minutes – enough time to collect all the pertinent data that the doctor may be interested in.
The blood pressure and heartbeat rate will be measured before and after the stress test as well as the amount of time it takes for both markers to return to their resting rate.
Cardiac stress test are not 100% effective and if you “fail” the test, it does not necessarily mean that you have heart problems. About one out of every ten patients falsely test positive for heart problems. That’s why, if the test shows that you have problems, you may be asked to take the test again.
Cardiac Stress Test – Fletcher Allen
Monday, February 1st, 2010
Cardiac stress testing is a critical tool in both diagnosis and rehabiliation. Fletcher Allen offers extensive exercise stress testing in Burlington, VT.
