Tests used for diagnosis purposes in cardiac diseases particularly ECG and also ECHO, Stress Test and Holter Test are being performed in our cardiology department.
STRESS Test
Stress (Treadmill) test is a commonly used test in diagnosis and monitoring of cardiovascular diseases. Stress Test is to increase the work load of heart by having the individual do some exercise in compliance with specified criteria and to examine whether there are any cardiovascular diseases which may cause deficiencies in supply of heart muscles during this loading.
ECG Test
ECG is generally performed with the purposes of diagnosing heart attack in patients applied due to chest pains, revealing regular or irregular arrhythmias, recording electrical activities of heart during stress test and evaluating various drugs` performances or side effects and functions of mechanical devices (permanent pacemaker, etc.) which may affect the heart.
ECHO Test
It provides important information especially about movements of cardiac valves and heart walls. No dyes, radioactive materials and needles are used. It causes no pain and it is harmless to the patient. In some individuals sufficient images may not be obtained due to the nature of the individual. ECHO tests are useful for in following matters.
- Cardiac valve diseases
- Diameters of cardiac cavities, whether they are large or not
- Movements of heart walls, whether there are any movement disorder or not
- Measuring internal heart pressures, cardiac dilatation, heart failure and prosthesis valve functions for patients who had cardiac valve surgery
- Cardiac sourced clot examination in patients who had strokes
- Cardiac valve problems related to the rheumatic valve disease
- Non-rheumatic cardiac valve diseases (thickening, narrowing, deficiency, blood leakage)
- Examination of fibro-calcific degeneration (blood pressure related or congenital)
- Measurement of the pressure in pulmonary arteries (pulmonary hypertension determination)
- Determination of ventricular septal defects
- Determination of cardiac tumors
- Thrombus examination in internal cardiac cavities
- Pathological modifications in aorta veins (aneurysm and tears)
- Cardiac rheumatism
- Cardiac failure
- Heart attack
- Congenital cardiac diseases
Holter Test
It is used in situations where the heart rhythm needs to be monitored for a long term. Electrodes, cables and recording device is connected to the patient. The device records the heart rhythm for almost 24 hours while the person continues with his/her normal daily life. By the end of this period the device is removed and recordings are analyzed in a computer. The short term tachycardia and all unnoticed arrhythmias during the day which were not detected in the examination are determined with this device.
For Blood Pressure Holter, blood pressures and pulses of patients are recorded during their daily activities, rests and sleeps. Thus, it is determined at what time of day blood pressures patients with long term hypertension are high. It is also used to assist diagnosis in patients suspected having hypertension.