My husband went to the heart doc today and one of the tests is a chemical stress test. They said from start to finish it would take three hours. Has anyone heard of this type of stress test and if so is it dangerious? He cannot take a reg stress test because of his asthma and also because of his Lung surgery last year.Thank you.

I hope someone can correct me if I am wrong, bear with me, I am still learning all this stuff. I believe a regular stress test is where you walk/run on a treadmill to get your heart rate up and then an echo is done. A chemical stress test, I believe is where they give you a medication to increase your heart rate and then do the echo. Like I said, I could be wrong about this because I am still learning. If someone else knows anymore, just chime in!

Thank you That sounds right but I do not know about the echo. He will have a monitar on tues and thurs will have the stress test. He will have the other test to look at the heart in two weeks.That sounds dangerious with a chemical increacing the heart rate. What happens if it makes the heart beat to fast?

Thank you That sounds right but I do not know about the echo. He will have a monitar on tues and thurs will have the stress test. He will have the other test to look at the heart in two weeks.That sounds dangerious with a chemical increacing the heart rate. What happens if it makes the heart beat to fast?

The chemical injection is to get a visual display of the dye substance as it progresses through the system. Any blockage would be apparent when there is exertion. Flow may be normal at rest so exertion is necessary.

There will be a doctor present during the exertion phase to monitor the procedure, and the test will be discontinued if there shows a problem.

It takes hours of time as there are numerous images taken from different angles. There is time taken between tests. Then there are tests to determine the time to return to normal, etc.

I just had one done last week. With mine i was able to do the tread mill. First they injected the dye in me and i waited for 30 minutes then they layed me on a table and took pictures of my heart at rest with the dye. Then i went down and did the tread mill, when i reached my ideal heart rate, they shot more dye in and i stayed on the tread mill for 1 more minute. They then took me back down and about 20 minutes later i got the pictures done again. I know with a chemical test instead of doing the tread mill after they take the first set of pictures they inject a medicine in you to speed your heart rate up to where it would be if you were on the tread mill and then inject the dye. I was told if they had to do it that way that the medicine could cause me to have chest pains, flushing, and to be short of breath. They say the test is very good at showing any blockage. I did fine with mine, no trouble.

lorriem,

There is some slight risk because the effect of the drug is exactly the same on the heart as if a person was running....but it's easier on the legs. Risk is higher if someone has heart disease especially heart failure.

Make SURE that he is getting a nuclear stress test and not just an echogram. As long as one goes through the rigmarole of the stress one should have the GOOD test.

Do they suspect angina?

Thank you all for the info . He will be having the adenosine or doubutamine stress test and half way thhrough the test they want him to eat something. This test is done for people with Asthma. It still scares me though.. Thanks again.;

Lorrie

Lenin.
I don't think they suspect angina. He has been getting a lot of PVC's and constant chest thightness but that could be due to his lung surgery. They are not sure yet. The Chemo he was on could have also caused some heart damage. We just have to wait and see. He will be having an ECG last since we will be away for a week but next week he will have the stress test and do the monitor.One thing we are upset with was when he had a cholesterol test last year are primary care doc said he was fine. 187 it was. We showed his results to the specialist and he said even though the whole number is low his hdl was very low.You would think that our primary would have spotted that. I have very high total but my HDL is very high.From now on I will want to see every test that is done by our primary.
Lorrie