Diagnostic Tests

• Electrocardiogram (ECG) or (EKG) - This test measures the electrical activity of your heart to determine if you have had a previous heart attack, if you have heart enlargement or if you are currently having a heart attack. The procedure, which requires that sticky tabs be placed on your chest to hold transmitting wires in place, is painless.
  
  
• Echocardiogram (echo) - An echo uses sound waves to look at your heart. The doctor can look at your heart walls, valves and the blood flow through your heart. Ejection fraction -- the volume of blood ejected during each contraction -- can be measured by this method. An echo is painless and requires you to lie quietly as a scanner probe is moved over your chest. During a trans-esophageal echo or TEE, the echo probe is put in the esophagus to obtain more detailed pictures of your heart. 
  
  
• Exercise Stress Test Treadmill Test -Your blood pressure and heart will be monitored while you walk on a treadmill at different levels of intensity. This allows your doctor to gauge how your heart responds to different levels of exertion and also indicates whether your EKG changes during exercise. Wear comfortable walking shoes if you are scheduled for this test.
  
  
• Tracer Studies (MUGA, radionuclide ventriculography, gated blood pool imaging) - A radioactive tracer is introduced into the blood stream, and as the tracer passes through the heart, doctors can outline the chambers of the heart to measure the ejection fraction and the blood flow to the heart muscle.
  
  
• Right Heart Catheterization (Swan-Ganz catheter) - This procedure, performed in a catheter lab or intensive care unit, evaluates the pressures in the right side of your heart and lungs, and your overall fluid status. Your cardiac output (the amount of blood being pumped out of your heart) can be measured this way. An IV inserted in your neck holds a catheter, that may be taken out immediately or left in for a few days while you stay in the hospital, to monitor effects of medications on your heart.
  
  
• Left Heart Catheterization (cath) - During this procedure, performed in the cath lab, a small tube is placed in the artery in your groin to enable surgeons to inject dye and pass instruments into your coronary arteries to measure blockage and pumping strength.   Doctors can also obtain your ejection fraction this way.