Patient has possible heart attack symptoms - what tests are done in the ER & how long do they take for result?

Answer 1

EKG, a CBC, Cardiac enzymes and tropin ( these are released when the heart is damaged and tropin is only found in the heart so if it's elevate you probably have had a heart attack) your oxygen level, A metabolic panel which schows how your kidneys are working and how your blood sugar is and esp. your potassium because potassium is vital to muscle contraction. If the EKG and symptoms warrent it you may go directly to the heart cath lab where they thread a tube from your groin into your heart blood vessles and can dialate them if clogged by a clot or plaque which causes a heart attack. This can prevent the heart from being damaged. It should take a few minutes to get the EKG but depending on your hospital the blood work can take 30 minutes to several hours! obviously the sooner the better. If you have the chance to go to a heart center, thats the place to go. They work the fastest because time lost is heart muscle damage.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

If someone presents with chest pain they usually do several things. First they get the persons vital signs: heart rate, temperature, blood pressure, and how fast they are breathing. Then the doctor usually orders an EKG. This shows a picture of the electrical activity of the heart, and only involves placing electrodes (stickers) on the persons body and pushing a button on a printing machine to print what the machine "sees"). Doctors can immediately look at the print out and see if there are any abnormalities in the electrial activity. Doctors will also usually order a blood test to look at cardiac enzymes. These enzymes, if elevated, have been released by the heart when it is damaged; therefore, elevated cardiac enzymes let doctors know that damage may have occured. These blood tests take minutes to process, but it often takes a short while longer for the communication of the results to reach the doctor for interpretation. I hope that this helps!!

Answer 4

Typically and EKG is done and a few blood tests, cardiac markers are done and it depends on the lab. I have worked in many different ER's. Some labs are quicker than others. I've seen it take anywhere from 30 min to an hour and a half. Most doctors treat the symptoms, not the numbers and if they believe the patient is truly having a heart attack, they consult a cardiologist, who would send the pt to the cath lab for interventional treatment.

Answer 5

The first thing they would do is take an ekg. Then do a blood draw to see if there is an enzyme in the blood that indicates a heart attack. Then they may do a doupler of the carroidid arteries, chest x-ray, and maybe an ultrasound.

EKG results are quick, blood draw is usually a couple of hours as well as the results for the other tests.

Answer 6

first they would do an EKG and they can look on and see if he was having one. That doesn't always show it though. they do some blood test such as troponin and and CK-mb and if they are elevated, that is an indicater of heart attack. these results come back with in an hour. You can also have a cardiac cath done, but that's almost like surgery, where they insert a tiny tube into the artery in your groin and slip a wire up to your heart and inject dye, and see if there is a blockage in the blood vessels of the heart (what causes heart attack).

Answer 7

An EKG will be done and it can tell immediately if you are having a heart attack, but it doesn't always show up. To be sure they will also do cardiac enzymes that show heart damage which could take an hour or so. Call an ambulance if you think you are having a heart attack- it could save your life and you will be seen faster. An aspirin is also a good idea if you don't have any pre-existing bleeding problems. Good luck!!

Answer 8

Most certainly an EKG and cardiac enzymes are done, specifically troponin and CK-MB. Additional tests are run as necessary, including echocardiography, as well as a whole battery of things to rule out other conditions (gallstones, ruptured aortic aneurysm, anxiety attack, etc.) as needed. An EKG can be read almost instantaneously, and a good doc can make a tentative diagnosis just off that and history/physical exam data. Everything else takes a bit longer, but in my experience you treat it as an MI until proven otherwise.

Answer 9

x-ray, ekg, possibly cat scan. It takes as long as the staff needs to get to the patient and for the films; tapes to be read by a qualified physician or technician.
Most emergency room evaluations can take several hours. Worth the time if you've actually had or are having a heart attack.

Answer 10

Depends...if the patient has expired, a simple presuption is done. If the patient is alive, blood panels, EKG, etc...

From minutes to hours...the presumption is to start the tests, and treat as if positive, since if it is, the sooner they start, the more likely the patient is to survive a non-fatal heart attack.