What tests do I need to have in order to see how well my heart is functioning?

Question

I want to know if having a heart attack is inevitable for me.
What tests should I have done? Also, what tests are available to see if I have any coronary artery blockages?

Answer 1

You don't have to undergo robust tests, all is that your BP is Normal, EKG is normal, and Echocardiography (Maximum). OK.

Answer 2

There is not a way to definitely find that you will some day have a heart attack. Doctors look at risk factors for coronary artery disease (history of diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, and family history of premature coronary disease) and go from there.

Tests that would be helpful to look at heart function would be an EKG,
an echocardiogram (which is is an ultrasound of your heart) this looks at the structure of your heart, valves, and how strong the muscle is. It can also look at how well the walls of your heart squeeze to make sure there aren't any wall motion abnormalities.
A nuclear stress test looks for potential blockages, but isn't a perfect test.

The only way to know for sure if you have blockages would be a cardiac catheterization. This is done in the hospital, usually as an outpatient procedure.

There is a new test now that is called a coronary CT. This is a CT scan that takes pictures of the arteries, too. It is more accurate than a stress test. It's still relatively new, so sometimes insurance will not pay for some to have this test.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Echocardiogram and stress test (treadmill), echocardiography and thallium tests.
The most definite technique is to perform a coronary angiography A catheter with a wire is inserted into the thigh and advanced to the heart arteries. A dye (contrast) in then injected into the arteries to detect and quantify the blockage of these arteries.

Answer 4

if i'm not wrong it would be a ekg.
to see if you have any blocked arterys a stress test i needed to have that test done but when i was told what it does i wouldn't do the because the medicin they put though the IV. it spreeds up your heart and you feel like you can't breath and this would last fot a good four mins. and because I was already having trouble breathing ! I wouldn't do it.