just wanted to know if i have a normal echo except mitral valve prolapse, if i had heart disease would it show on am echo. also what does an echo check for?

please reply

just wanted to know if i have a normal echo except mitral valve prolapse, if i had heart disease would it show on am echo. also what does an echo check for?

please reply
The echo looks at the heart physically pumping (i.e. a movie of the heart, if you will) and it can also see the blood flow in the heart and check how much blood is left in the left ventricle after it's contracted (i.e. the ejection fraction) and if the blood if flowing in the right direction. It can also give a general picture as to how big the heart is...this is significant as heart disease often starts with the left ventricle enlarging because it has to push against a higher resistance (i.e. a person with high blood pressure).

So to answer your question, yes, the echo can give an idea of heart disease. It can also give an impression as to how bad your MVP is...usually MVP isn't that serious.

Does that answer your questions?

None of the heart tests are infalible. Even the angiogram which is the gold standard can miss some problems. Sometimes the problem is with the interpreter of the test.

rc,

I take your question to mean "Would the echo show iscemic heart disease because of partially blocked arteries?"
My answer is a firm no. The echo is just too gross a test to show the arterial network in enough detail.

I passed an echo with flying colors and had an almost completely blocked main right artery!

rc,

I take your question to mean "Would the echo show iscemic heart disease because of partially blocked arteries?"
My answer is a firm no. The echo is just too gross a test to show the arterial network in enough detail.

I passed an echo with flying colors and had an almost completely blocked main right artery!
Very good point zip2play!

so how do u know if u could possibly have a blocked artery, what symptoms do u look for??

Sometimes you have no symptoms, like me. I had three 95% blocked arteries and one blocked at 70% and I had no symptoms. Usually though they ask if you have had chest pain, shoulder pain, jaw pain. Or also if you get short of breath on exertion, swelling of the lower extremities. If you have been feeling tired. My echo with a stress test also showed my heart to be in great condition, they just thought I might have one artery a little blocked. Boy, were they surprised at my cardiac catheterization--me too!

so how do u know if u could possibly have a blocked artery, what symptoms do u look for??
i'm totally with Kshortie....the main symptoms are:

chest pain or shortness of breath which gets worse with activity and better with rest...those are the classic signs of what they call "angina". The jaw pain and arm pain that Kshortie mentioned are signs that are more associated with a heart attack, which is the end point of angina if it is not treated.

rc,

Let me add to the two previous posts that the feeling of intense heartburn that can radiate to either or both shoulders and the upper left arm is common in angina. This syndrome is usally accompanied by shortness of breath.
It usually passes with 5 minutes of rest.
It's always the "chest pain or extreme discomfort on exertion-comfort on rest" cycle that is almost diagnostic for anigina.

All these describe "stable" or typical angina. "Unstable angina" is angina that can come out of the blue with no need for an exertion trigger and can last a long time...even more serious but far less common!

rc,

Let me add to the two previous posts that the feeling of intense heartburn that can radiate to either or both shoulders and the upper left arm is common in angina. This syndrome is usally accompanied by shortness of breath.
It usually passes with 5 minutes of rest.
It's always the "chest pain or extreme discomfort on exertion-comfort on rest" cycle that is almost diagnostic for anigina.

All these describe "stable" or typical angina. "Unstable angina" is angina that can come out of the blue with no need for an exertion trigger and can last a long time...even more serious but far less common!
...the other thing that should be mentioned here is that women are much more likely to have an atypical symptom profile when it comes to ischemic heart disease pain. This includes thinks like: a nagging "toothache", jaw pain, arm pain and even nausea! Women often don't get the classic retrosternal chest pain that a lot of men get when they are having a heart attack.

Also, just to add zip2play, you made a very good point about unstable angina. Having any of these qualifies as unstable angina:

angina that comes at rest
angina that is increasing in frequency, duration or intensity over the course of hours to days
angina that is within the short-term period following a heart attack.

zip2play and butterflytrans

I have all that, angina with minimal exhertion, shoulder, chest, upper back, and arm pain. Nausea and on occassion jaw pain. I am 30 and have had these symptoms for a couple yrs now. I am weak and tired all the time. Should I though dismiss this as being related to my heart condition(hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy), or should I be getting further testing?
I have recently noticed a bit of swelling in my feet(after sitting for a while). I have some family history of heart disease, one stroke, CHF, CAD, although no heart attacks as of yet. All of these people are in their golden, years, 70's, 80's. And all still alive. I already know I have fled from the flock what with having a genetic condition all to myself :D, should I investigate further, or at what point do you just accept that "this is the way I am".

Many thanks
Abby

Abby,

At no point can you accept things as "the way you are." You have to do battle with this demon on a daily basis (certainly diuretics to keep the leg swelling down.) Most people do pretty well on the drugs but for some more proactive treatments are advised.
Here's a MOUTHFUL of gargantuan words that wll have you scurriying for a medical dictionary but it's an excellent read on the topic:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=59612

(since it's an nih.gov publication, I'm sure it's ok to mention.)

zip2play,
Thanks for the address, I checked it out and it is indeed very interesting. The problem with me(there is ALWAYS a problem:D) is that I do not fit ANY of the surgical criteria. My septal enlargement is 1.6cm, I can't remember what it needs to be to be a candidate for surgery(myectomy), but I know I don't meet it.
Also my outflow tract gradient is 16mmHg at rest, and only rises to 36mmHg with stress.
Far below the requirements of ≥ 50 mmHg at rest, or ≥ 30 mmHg at rest and 100 mmHg under stress.

So right now my only option is meds...which are only working to keep my heart rate down...thats it. I of course have not given up yet!!
Thanks again for taking your time to help me. I appreciate it.

Abby

Abby,

At no point can you accept things as "the way you are." You have to do battle with this demon on a daily basis (certainly diuretics to keep the leg swelling down.) Most people do pretty well on the drugs but for some more proactive treatments are advised.
Here's a MOUTHFUL of gargantuan words that wll have you scurriying for a medical dictionary but it's an excellent read on the topic:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=59612

(since it's an nih.gov publication, I'm sure it's ok to mention.)
Hey zip2play, which types of websites are okay to mention?

zip or anyone else who knows i have a question for so if u passed your echo what test did they do to finally diagnose it? also is a fast heartrate a symptom of this? and also how old are you? wouldnt a ekg show something also? i mean usually if they they cant find anything wrong in the first 4 tests ekg,holter,echo,stress test, they say anxiety if u know what i mean!!! did any if those tests come back with even a little something wrong? i have a fast heartrate all day long that just started one day out of no where i woke up it was like 150bpm and right this second it is 92 which seems so high to me since i always use to work out and i think it use to be like in the 60's or low 70's i dont know for sure tho i never took it til that day! so basically what iam asking is what tests should i have done so i can definally rule out a heart problem !!!!! whats more accurate a tee echo or a heart cath?

I had 3 EKG's that came back normal at the SAME time I was HAVING a heart attack!!!!!! The first one done by Urgent Care, 2nd by the paramedics that the Urgent care called, 3rd by the emergency room staff. ALL NORMAL. Wasn't till 4 1/2 hours AFTER my heart attack started that the blood tests confirmed it. Had an angio the following day where a medicated stent was placed in one of the two blocked arteries. No family history of heart disease, no high cholesterol, no diabetes, don't smoke, rarely drink, no high blood pressure either.
So for me......EKG didn't mean squat.

P.s. I'm a 43yr old female with NO previous symptoms. Heart attack Symptoms included: chest pressure, back of both arms felt VERY tired, as if I had been doing pushups all day, after about an hour I started feeling very clammy so decided to take a shower, shave my legs..UGH!!! even cut my hair, all this before my husband came home and insisted I go to the Urgent care.

Best of luck to you. And just so you know, even the ER doc's didn't take this seriously enough. They were so dumbfounded at the blood results that they did the test THREE times to make sure.

HEART DISEASE: the #1 killer of WOMAN.

I had 3 EKG's that came back normal at the SAME time I was HAVING a heart attack!!!!!! The first one done by Urgent Care, 2nd by the paramedics that the Urgent care called, 3rd by the emergency room staff. ALL NORMAL. Wasn't till 4 1/2 hours AFTER my heart attack started that the blood tests confirmed it. Had an angio the following day where a medicated stent was placed in one of the two blocked arteries. No family history of heart disease, no high cholesterol, no diabetes, don't smoke, rarely drink, no high blood pressure either.
So for me......EKG didn't mean squat.

P.s. I'm a 43yr old female with NO previous symptoms. Heart attack Symptoms included: chest pressure, back of both arms felt VERY tired, as if I had been doing pushups all day, after about an hour I started feeling very clammy so decided to take a shower, shave my legs..UGH!!! even cut my hair, all this before my husband came home and insisted I go to the Urgent care.

Best of luck to you. And just so you know, even the ER doc's didn't take this seriously enough. They were so dumbfounded at the blood results that they did the test THREE times to make sure.

HEART DISEASE: the #1 killer of WOMAN.
Shambbles, you are a testament to the fact that women are much more likely to present with a heart attack with atypical symptoms. I'm sorry you had to go through that. What you had was what they call a non ST-elevation myocardial infarction. This is a fancy way of saying you had a heart attack which didn't show any deviations in the normal EKGs.

One thing though, the fact the doctors did the blood test three times doesn't mean they were "baffled"...all people get cardiac enzymes done repeatedly. They are known as "serial cardiac enzymes" and you are supposed to do them every 8 hours until you've done three serial tests. A lot of the time, you'll see a rise in the enzymes on the first test, but if you don't, it doesn't rule out a heart attack....you have to do get three negative results in a row to be fairly sure that nothing has happened to the heart. It is pretty unusual that you had none of the major risk factors. Do you have any other health problems?

Hi Butterflytrans,

Thank you for explaining the blood test issue. I wasn't aware of that.


And...... funny you should ask about other health problems...... Prior to the heart attack I had none. I did smoke for about 5 years but quit January 17, 1988.

Here is my pity party.
THEN........ while attending my cardiac rehab at the hospital one day (3 months after my heart attack) I entered the hospital and was walking toward the elevators when my right foot slipped on the floor, I felt my foot twist and as I tried to catch myself with my left foot, as I stepped down I dislocated my knee, tore my ACL/LCL/PCL, broke the fibula and tore the peroneal nerve and now have nerve damage to my foot (foot drop). I was hospitalized for an entire week as FIVE Orthopedic surgeons struggled over what to do with me. Should they operate? or not operate?
It was decided that it would be too risky to operate so closed to my heart attack. So we wait. My OS believes I will need a knee reconstruction in the near future. I was bed ridden for a few months, started PT and now have almost full range of motion in the knee with little to no pain. YEAH!! It took awhile but knee pain has almost disappeared. The foot is another problem, the nerve pain is horrible. I have to wear a foot brace (AFO) 24 hours a day. (hate it) but im finally walking without crutches. I've had 2 EMG's and they determined no nerve regeneration thus far. If the nerves don't regenerate I hope to have a "posterier tibial tendon transfer" next spring.

The good news is I now have a "handicapped" parking sticker AND... the hospital forgave $279 of my bill.........Yippy skippy, I can now retire with that savings............. UGH!!!

Do I sound bitter? oops.

I also want to add that I was in complete denial abou the heart attack thing, the entire time I kept saying it couldn't happen to me. BUT, you learn fast that I can happen to anyone. Once in the cardiac program I promised myself that I would keep up with the exercise program, unfortunately with my knee/foot injury I can't. I kinda feel like a second heart attack waiting to happen.

I'm hoping that with all the meds i'm on I will stay ahead of the game.

Shambles