Things You Need to Know About Heart Stress Tests

By Alana Vaughn


A stress test using low dosage radioactive chemicals on the heart is known as a nuclear stress test. The goal of the test is to create an image of blood as it flows to your heart. These tests are conducted by doctors in order to determine whether or not there is any reduction in blood flow. If blood flow is diminished, this alerts them that there is a possible blockage somewhere, even in the heart itself. When a nuclear test is conducted, the patient can be either resting or exercising. The name of stress test comes from the fact that exercising places pressure on the cardiovascular system.

One radioactive compound used in nuclear stress tests is Thallium. Remember that there is no harm caused to the body since they use very small amounts of the substance. Thallium becomes less radioactive over time and it is also removed naturally from the body quite speedily. But it is the Thallium that allows doctors to produce an image revealing the dimensions of your heart chambers. Doctors can judge the health of your heart based on this information. A doctor can use these representations to determine how strong your heart is and how well it can pump blood. Based on these images, doctors can also tell if the heart is suffering from any damage.

A cardiac stress test is performed because your doctor wishes to ascertain the health of your heart. Stress tests can also be performed for other reasons. For example, this kind of test can be given to assess an optimum and safe amount of exercise for any person. A stress test can also reveal the risk of a heart attack and other problems occurring. Since the main goal of a stress test is to discover how healthy your heart is, a doctor won't get it done without a reason. Simply because a stress test has been ordered in no way implies that the patient should assume the worst.

Regular cardiac tests use EKGs (electrocardiograms). There is a little wiggle room for interpretation with this particular device. The important point here is that there could be times when changes in a person's EKG may be caused for explainable reasons unrelated to heart disease. For this reason, when there are anomalies in the results of an EKG rest period doctors will need to make a decision about the testing situation. Most of the time, doctors in this situation will simply order a different type of stress test. Most patients will find that the traditional test is still very reliable.

Nuclear stress tests are an important tool for doctors in the diagnosis of various forms of heart disease. If you ever require a nuclear stress test, make sure to ask your doctor a lot of questions. The reason for asking questions is simply so you will have greater knowledge about the situation as well as your specific condition.




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