Getting a Cardiac Stress Test
When a patient is found to have something wrong with his heart, or if there is a suspicion that the heart might be the cause of certain symptoms that the patient might be having, a cardiac stress test is often prescribed to help the doctor determine what the precise problem is. These cardiac stress tests can be done in a variety of different ways, the most common of which is the exercise stress test. By doing the cardiac stress test, the doctors can determine a variety of information about the person’s heart health. First, it clarifies whether the symptoms the patient was having were really caused by a heart issue or if it is something else. It can show whether the heart is beating irregularly or if the heart is getting enough blood to it. It can also help to determine if heart medications that are being used and if the procedures that have been done to the heart have been successful.
Exercise or Not
The exercise test is one that uses a treadmill or stationary bike to raise the level of exercise to increasingly difficult levels for the patient while monitoring how the patient’s heart responds to the different levels. The patient is hooked to an electrocardiogram machine as well as a heart rate monitor and a blood pressure monitor. By using all of these readings the doctors can pinpoint what the problem might be. This test is effective in most cases, but there are times when the patient is not in a condition to be able to exercise in any way without damaging his health.
When this is the case, the cardiac stress test is performed with the use of some medications. The first of these is the dobutamine or adenosine cardiac stress test. In this test, the patient is given one of these drugs which makes the heart beat as though it were exercising. This allows the doctors to monitor the heart just like in the exercise test, but the person does not actually have to exercise. In another test, there is an echocardiogram of the heart. This cardiac stress test uses sound waves to map out the heart so that the doctors can see the walls and valves and how they are pumping the blood. There is also a nuclear stress test that can be used in some cases as a cardiac stress test, which gives the doctors pictures of the heart so that they can determine what parts of the heart are actually functioning in the patient.
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