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Has your doctor recommended that you get a stress test? Perhaps you have chronic high blood pressure that can lead to heart damage, or your doctor hears what might be an arrhythmia. A stress test provides essential information about how your heart is functioning.
If this information reveals that you have a heart condition, we can begin expert treatment to mitigate adverse consequences.
Our board-certified cardiologists at Advanced Heart Care Associates provide in-office stress tests that help diagnose and treat heart disease.
A stress test reveals specific kinds of heart disease
A stress test reveals whether your heart still functions normally in terms of blood flow and electrical activity when you’re exercising rigorously.
A stress test helps us identify the following heart conditions:
Coronary artery disease (CAD)
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common type of heart disease and the No. 1 cause of death in the United States. Cholesterol can gradually build up in the arteries that wrap around your heart. It hardens and turns into plaque, which can develop into clumps and block the flow of blood to your heart.
A common symptom of CAD is chest pain. On the other hand, CAD can be a silent killer. You may not experience any symptoms until you have a heart attack.
Heart arrhythmias
Do you feel as if your heart sometimes beats faster than normal? You may have a heart arrhythmia, meaning your heart can beat more quickly than normal, slow down, or develop an irregular rhythm. If that’s the case, your heart’s electrical system isn’t functioning normally.
Atrial fibrillation, the most common type of arrhythmia, causes a rapid, uncoordinated heartbeat that often feels like your heart is fluttering or quivering.
Heart failure
Heart failure means your heart isn’t able to pump enough blood to circulate throughout your body. Fluids build up and cause your legs, ankles, feet, or abdomen to swell. You may also have typical heart symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath, especially when you’re active.
Heart valve disease
Your heart has four valves that work to keep blood flowing through it in one direction. If a valve malfunctions and doesn’t open or close normally, blood flows in the wrong direction, limiting blood flow to your body.
Heart valve disease is sometimes a congenital condition. It can also develop in adulthood due to infection or a heart condition. Symptoms of heart valve disease include fatigue, chest pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, arrhythmias, and ankle and foot swelling.
Why do I need a stress test?
A doctor who recommends a stress test may suspect that you have a heart condition. The stress test can help diagnose whether you have a heart condition and determine appropriate treatment that can help prevent a heart attack or other damaging condition.
A stress test can help:
- Diagnose the reason for heart-related symptoms such as chest pain, difficulty breathing, dizziness, or an irregular heartbeat
- Assess how your current heart treatment is working
- Identify the optimal treatment for a heart condition
- Predict your risk of a heart attack
- Verify you can safely have surgery
A stress test can also help us identify how much exercise your heart can tolerate, providing critical information about safe levels of activity.
Kinds of stress tests
We administer specific types of stress tests based on your symptoms and medical history. During all stress tests, we monitor and record your heart activity with an electrocardiogram (EKG) and watch your blood pressure and heart rate.
Exercise stress test
During an exercise stress test, you walk on a treadmill, starting slowly. We gradually increase the pace, and you exercise until your heart rate reaches the target level, or until you must stop because of symptoms.
If you’re not able to take the stress test, we use a medicine that increases blood flow to your heart, replicating heart activity similar to physical exercise.
Stress echocardiogram
When we use this stress test, we administer an echocardiogram beforehand and afterward. Echocardiograms allow us to see images of your heart’s structure, valve movement, blood flow, and muscle contractions.
Nuclear stress test
When we administer a nuclear stress test, we administer an IV with a radioactive tracer into your bloodstream. A special medical gamma camera identifies the tracer and sends us images of how the blood flows through your heart.
We compare the images before and after you exercise so we can note changes. This test reveals details about blood flow around your heart that we can’t see with other imaging tests.
Prevent an adverse heart event
Call Advanced Heart Care Associates or schedule an appointment online today if you suspect you may have a heart condition. We have offices in the Green Valley area of Las Vegas and in Henderson, Nevada. Remember, early treatment saves lives.