A cardiac stress test is a non-invasive cardiological exam that measures the ability of your heart to react to external stress in an otherwise controlled clinical environment. It is usually performed on patients suspected of having cardiac disease or suffering from other serious conditions like arrhythmia. It is sometimes also used to assess the risk for sudden death caused by heart attacks or by unstable angina, in order to reduce the dosage of anti-hypertensive medicines.
The most common nuclear stress test involves two sets of twenty-four electrodes attached to your body. These electrodes are placed either in your chest or in your arm or both. The electrodes are connected to a computer and a series of two-way communications is made between the computer and the heart. This enables your doctor to determine the force with which your heart contracts and relaxes while at rest.
The first set of twenty-four electrodes is attached to the computer and they communicate with the heart using the computer's serial port. The second set of twenty-four electrodes is connected to the EKG (electrocardiograph) machine. Once these two sets of electrodes are connected, the machine creates a signal from each of the twenty-four points on your body that is then sent to the cardiac stress test machine. Your doctor will read your results and determine if you have a cardiac or a neurological condition and determine the nature of the nuclear stress test.
There are several types of nuclear stress tests that are performed in hospitals today. One type is a resting heart stress test. This is done while the patient is resting in a hospital room. This can take several hours depending on how severe your heart condition is. Once the results of the resting heart test come back, your doctor will be able to tell whether or not you have a mild, moderate or severe heart condition.
Another type of nuclear stress test is an invasive procedure where a tiny amount of radiation, called a tracer is injected into a person's heart. The tracer is actually attached to a catheter that is inserted into your heart through the chest wall. The technician inserts a tiny stick-like device called a radiotracer into your chest. A radio wave is sent out from the radiotracer so that the technician can find out what is going on inside of your heart. The technician will then inject the tracer into one of your coronary arteries. Once the tracer has reached its destination, a monitor that measures the amount of energy that has been injected into your body's arteries will show you what is happening.
Sometimes nuclear testing is done to see if you have high blood pressure. If you do have this condition, you may be asked to put some sort of radioactive substance into your vein. The radioactive substance is supposed to help measure the intensity of the stress on your heart muscle. The radiation inserted into the vein will allow the technician to get an accurate reading of the amount of stress being placed on your muscles. Then the nuclear testing technician will inject a very small amount of the radioactive substance into the area. This small amount will allow the technician to determine if too much blood flow is occurring within the muscle.
Nuclear stress tests are usually only performed on people who have already had a heart attack or angina treatment. Patients who have had either one of these procedures may feel some discomfort from the radioactive substance being injected into their bodies. However, if the results show that the nuclear injection is not having an adverse effect on your health, you may be given clearance to proceed with the procedure. You should consult with your doctor about the procedure so that he or she can make the decision for you based on your health.