How is heart disease diagnosed?
If you are experiencing any symptoms of heart disease, contact your doctor immediately. Heart disease can only be detected through medical tests. You and your doctor will work together to decide what tests are necessary for you. These tests may include: • Blood tests • Chest X-rays • Cholesterol screening • Coronary angiography and heart catheterization • Echocardiogram • Electrocardiogram • MRI • Doppler ultrasounds • Ejection fraction • Nuclear stress test • Coronary calcium scans Once the specific type of heart disease is diagnosed, your doctor will decide which treatment is right for you.
The diagnosis of heart disease begins with obtaining a history that the potential for coronary artery disease exists. Risk factors need to be assessed, and then testing may be required to confirm the presence of heart disease. Heart disease tests Not every patient with chest pain needs heart catheterization (the most invasive test). Instead, the healthcare provider will try to choose the testing modality that will best provide the diagnosis, and if coronary artery disease is present, decide what impairment, if any, is present. Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) The heart is an electrical pump, and the electrical impulses it generates can be detected on the surface of the skin. Normal muscle conducts electricity in a reproducible fashion. Muscle that has decreased blood supply conducts electricity poorly. Muscle that has lost its blood supply and has been replaced with scar tissue cannot conduct electricity.
