Tests for your heart
Choosing the right tests for you can make all the difference. Each test has its own merits and they are complementary to each other.
To fully understand your health, Dr Nijjer may need to organise one or more tests. Dr Nijjer will take the time to explain what these tests are, what they will involve and how they will help get to the bottom of your problem.
An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a tracing of the heart to look for irregular heart beats, angina and heart attacks.
Exercise Tolerance Test
An exercise tolerance test (ETT) involves continuous ECG reading while you run on a treadmill. Its an excellent test of exercise capacity and can reveal changes consistent with angina.
In this test, you where an ECG monitor underneath your clothes whilst continuing with your normal activity. It helps find arrhythmia and diagnose palpitations.
CT Coronary Angiography
CT Coronary Angiography is a non-invasive way of assessing the heart arteries. It can help identify calcification and coronary blockages that may warrant an invasive investigation.
Cardiac MRI is a sophisticated test to look at the structure and the function of the heart. It looks in detail at the heart muscle and can identify areas of scarring or weakness.
Stress Perfusion MRI
A stress perfusion MRI test is a specialist test that looks for scaring in the heart and evidence of an insufficient blood supply to the heart. When there are narrowings of the heart arteries, it can be detected by looking for changes on a stress perfusion MRI.
A coronary angiogram is an invasive procedure which gives us the clearest and most direct look at the coronary arteries. These are the arteries that nourish the heart muscle and when they become narrowed from atherosclerosis, it leads to a central tightness across the chest called angina.
Coronary Angioplasty is the treatment of coronary blockages by balloon dilatation followed by insertion of a drug-eluting stent. This treatment can improve the blood flow in heart arteries and improve symptoms. In patients having heart attacks, it is life-saving.