Heart Stress Tests - What You Should Know about Them

The human bodied is designed to do certain things when it is stressed. Additionally, the human body also reacts in foreseeable ways, biochemically speaking. One way your body reacts to stress is by getting your heart to work harder, essentially increasing cardiac output. That simply means your blood pressure and heart rate both increase to help your body cope with the stressful situation. A stress test is the ideal method to check how healthy a heart is and how well it could withstand higher stress levels, which is why they are employed.



The nuclear stress test is designed to measure the blood flow that comes to the heart. During a nuclear stress test, the blood flow is of interest in both at rest and at exercise conditions. The images are possible because of radioactive compounds, which give the test its name by the way, that are used during the test. The conditions of resting and exercise are important for this test so it must be performed during these times. There are some differences, for example, the actual imaging for the exercise aspect is done immediately after getting off of an exercise treadmill. That way the doctor and technicians can capture the heart's movements while still in the stressed condition.

The simple stress test is a procedure that is not as involved as other types of stress tests such as the nuclear stress test. During a simple test, such as a treadmill or standing bicycle test, the patient's heart must be monitored. This is done by using an EKG or ECG monitor. The patient walks in a regular pace on the treadmill. Gradually, the pace of the treadmill is increased so the demand on the heart is increased, or the heart is stressed. During this time, the doctor is does a tests and is there in case any emergencies arise. Also, during this time, the patient's blood pressure and heart rate are watched heavily.



Electrocardiograms (EKGs) are used during regular stress tests. This device leaves a little room for interpretation. It is possible for things other than heart disease to cause changes in the results of EKGs. 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. In most cases, this only requires a different type of stress test to be ordered. That doesn't change the fact that the traditional stress test is still a reliable choice for most patients.



A nuclear stress test is vital for any doctor to diagnose a wide range of heart problems. If you need to have on done, then ensure that you pose as many questions as possible and that you get answers from your doctor. You need to ask plenty of questions because otherwise you can't learn about what is going on and what your situation is.

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