Test that identify heart disease
Heart disease and cancer is the number one killer in America. Symptoms of heart disease vary greatly. Women and men posses very different symptoms for heart attack, some symptoms can be those of a common cold and other symptoms can be very straight forward. Because it is so hard to tell who does and doesn’t have heart disease by only identifying symptoms there are several heart scans which can be done in order for Cardiologist to be able to identify what is going on is the persons heard and other parts of their body. Besides heart scans to identify cancers and other such illness Full body scans can be done as well. Cardiologist would rather do a heart scan in order to protect the patient from such high amounts of radiation although sometimes necessary.
- Cardiac computed tomography
- Echocardiogram
- Electron beam computed tomography
- Nuclear heart scan
- Cardiac catheterization
Computed tomography commonly known as a ct scan CT heart scan is an imaging test that uses ct technology with or without contrast dye to visualize the heart anatomy, coronary circulation, and great vessels.
Echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart. It specifically pertains to the left ventricle of the heart and checks for certain abnormalities of the heart structure and valves. This procedure is noninvasive and one part of the exam can be done using the ultrasound probe on the patient’s chest. There is another part of the echo called the transesophageal echo this test is greatly useful for patients who are overweight or have very round chest. The cardiologist takes the ultrasound probe down through the patient’s esophagus. From here the cardiologist can see the back of the heart and examine.
Electron Beam computed tomography; this test is critical in the early detection of heart disease or heart attack risk before the patient ever feels symptoms. The test is usually done in radiology, where they use an electron ray to show pictures of the coronary arteries. Through this procedure it is visible if there is plaque hardening in the arteries. The test most commonly is repeated after a year.
Nuclear heart scans are extremely helpful for diagnostic purposes. Myocardial perfusion is used to look at the heart’s muscle and see if it is working properly and receiving the right amount of blood, if it is not this is generally evidence of occlusion somewhere in the artery. A second type of nuclear scan that is commonly done is done with the use of a treadmill. The nuclear stress test is done when a substance called radionuclide is injected in to the bloodstream, where it travels to the heart and makes it visible for the cardiologist to see how the heart is working under stressful conditions of exercise and if there has been previous injury. The next part of the test is done while the patient is resting.
Cardiac Catheterization uses a catheter which the doctor usually inserts into the groin and then follows the blood vessel up into the heart. This test allows the cardiologist to measure fluid pressure in the chamber of the heart and collect blood samples to analyze the oxygen and CO2 content.
These are not the only test used to measure what is happening inside and to someone’s heart, although there are few there are several other accurate test ones cardiologist will decided which is best to perform on their patient.
