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Feb 3, 2020 · Michigan Medicine cardiologist Venkatesh Murthy, M.D., offers a guide to the various noninvasive tests your doctor may order, including what they're designed to do. 1. Echocardiogram: Uses sound waves to produce images of your heart. This common test allows your physician to see how your heart is beating and how blood is moving through your heart.
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- Overview
- Why might someone need a heart test?
- Blood tests
- Electrocardiogram (EKG)
- Echocardiogram
- Nuclear stress test
- Coronary angiogram
- Chest X-ray
- MRI
- Cardiac event monitor
Doctors use heart tests to diagnose or monitor different heart conditions. They include blood tests, electrocardiograms, echocardiograms, and coronary angiograms.
Doctors use these tests to diagnose and monitor heart diseases. Some tests reveal issues that might lead to heart diseases in the future.
Doctors will help decide which tests are suitable for a person according to their symptoms, risk factors, and medical history.
This article will look at some of the most common types of heart tests. It will explain how they work and what they look for.
Doctors recommend heart tests for different reasons. A person may have symptoms of a heart condition, such as:
•pain or discomfort in the chest, upper back, or neck
•indigestion, nausea, or vomiting
•extreme tiredness
•dizziness
•shortness of breath
There are several blood tests for heart diseases. They include:
•Cardiac troponin test: Doctors use a cardiac troponin test to help diagnose a heart attack. Troponin is a protein in the heart. If damage occurs to the heart, it sends troponin into the bloodstream.
•Lipid profile: Doctors use this test to measure cholesterol levels in the blood. A high amount of low-density lipoproteins, or “bad” cholesterol, can lead to heart diseases.
•Thyroid function tests: Doctors use thyroid function tests to check how the thyroid gland is working. This gland produces a hormone called thyroxine into the blood. If levels of the hormone are too high or too low, it can cause a slow or fast heartbeat and may lead to palpitations.
•Complete blood count: Doctors use this test to look at the concentrations of different types of blood cells someone has in their blood. Low blood counts can cause similar symptoms to a heart condition.
•B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP): This test measures levels of a protein called BNP in the blood. If the heart has to work harder to pump blood, it creates more BNP, so higher levels may indicate heart failure.
Doctors often call an electrocardiogram an ECG or an EKG. The test measures the heart’s electrical activity through pads on the chest. The procedure is painless.
Doctors use an EKG to determine whether a person’s heart is beating at an expected rate and rhythm. This test can provide clues about a person’s heart size and health and helps doctors diagnose:
•arrhythmia, or an irregular heartbeat
•blocked arteries
•heart damage
•heart failure
An echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart. Doctors use it to understand the structure of the person’s heart and to see how well it functions.
During an echocardiogram, doctors look at:
•the size and movement of the heart’s walls
•how the heart moves
•how strongly the heart pumps
•the heart valves
Doctors also call a nuclear stress test a myocardial perfusion imaging test. It uses very small amounts of radioactive materials to capture images of the heart. This shows doctors how well blood flows through this organ.
Healthcare professionals will use a nuclear stress test to:
•look for narrowing and blockages in the arteries that may be causing discomfort
•look for signs of damage after a heart attack
•determine whether a person should have a coronary stent or bypass surgery
•see whether stent or bypass surgery is working
Doctors sometimes call a coronary angiogram a cardiac catheterization. The test, a type of X-ray, uses a special dye to show doctors how blood flows in the coronary arteries, the blood vessels that take blood to the heart.
Doctors use the test to look for a narrowing in the arteries and to diagnose CAD.
Doctors will sometimes suggest a chest X-ray to determine if the heart or the lungs are causing symptoms such as shortness of breath.
Sometimes, doctors may also recommend a chest X-ray for people preparing for heart surgery.
Cardiac MRIs use magnetic fields, radio waves, and a computer to take detailed pictures of the heart.
Doctors use these tests to diagnose and monitor heart diseases. They may also recommend this test to look for heart defects.
Cardiac event monitors are devices that record a person’s heartbeat over longer periods or specifically when they are having a symptom or “event.”
Doctors recommend cardiac event monitors to help diagnose heart rhythm problems that only occur infrequently.
- Amanda Barrell
- EKG (electrocardiogram) Time it takes: 5 minutes. How it works: a few stickers are placed on your chest and attached with wires to a device that measures the electrical activity of the heart and prints out the EKG.
- Echocardiogram (echo or cardiac ultrasound) Time it takes: 45-60 minutes. How it works: a sonographer places gel on your chest and presses gently with a probe to take ultrasound images/movies of your beating heart and blood flow.
- Exercise stress test. Time it takes: 30-60 minutes. How it works: a continuous EKG is taken while you are exercising on a treadmill at various speeds and inclines to determine if there is adequate blood flow to your heart.
- Chemical stress test (at least 2 types: dobutamine stress echo or nuclear stress test) Time it takes: 1-3 hours. How it works: if a patient is unable to walk adequately on a treadmill, an IV is placed and medication (dobutamine, which increases heart rate and blood pressure, or regadenoson, which dilates the blood vessels) is administered to simulate the stress of exercise; images are taken of the heart with ultrasound or a nuclear camera to estimate blood flow to the heart.
Mar 29, 2022 · For instance: An electrocardiogram (EKG) records electrical signals in your heart. A stress test assesses blood flow to the heart muscle during rest and exercise. An echocardiogram uses ultrasound waves to create moving pictures of your heart’s chambers, valves, and walls.
Many of these tests are imaging tests that provide still or moving pictures of your heart. Cardiac blood pool scan. Makes pictures of the heart. Shows how well your heart is pumping blood to your body. Checks the size of heart chambers. Checks for problems with blood flow or structure of the heart. Cardiac CT scan.
Feb 22, 2024 · A cardiac stress test shows how your heart works during physical activity. Also known as an exercise stress test, it can detect problems with blood flow when the heart is pumping faster and harder than usual. The test can be done while walking on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike.
People also ask
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Apr 25, 2023 · CT scan. Coronary angiogram. "These are common, routine cardiac tests that a doctor orders when someone is experiencing chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath and unexplained weakness or fatigue," says Dr. Tariq Dayah, an interventional cardiologist at Houston Methodist. "They're the first step in assessing how the heart is functioning ...
