Well, I had my angiogram yesterday. The Angiogram showed no evidence of a blockage. So the stress test showed what is called a "false positive."

I'm not sure what that means. How does a stress test show a possible blockage that an Angiogram proves is not there? Yes, I get that an Angiogram is a more interventional and harsher test, so you do it last, but what is the difference between the various other tests I had (Treadmill, Nuclear/Thallium, Echocardiogram) and Angiogram, such that I would have a false positive?

I had an exercise stress test (treadmill) on Monday. My EKG showed abnormal. My doctor scheduled me for an echogram and nuclear stress test (treadmill, scan). It scares me that you had a false positive result. An angiogram is very invasive and it's the absolute last thing I want to do. I'm anxious to see if anyone else had this happen to them. I've read that it is possible to have false positive results on stress tests. I'm not feeling very encouraged right now.

Well Arlmom18, I can't say that the angiogram was fun. But it's not so bad. There's the usual dehumanizing aspects of hospitals - lie still in a sterile room for hours, get shaved in embarassing places, don't eat or drink, etc. But the exam itself is remarkably benign. They give you some valium and then wheel you into the examining room. The hardest part is when they stick you in the groin to get to the femoral artery. But that actually doesn't hurt so bad, and the needle is actually much smaller than you might think. The hard part is lying in bed for a day afterwards, but you can get up for food or the bathroom, they just want you to stay inactive.

The exam itself includes a foot-square or so box zooming around your chest. If you're negative, it's over in ten minutes.

Now, I've read on this board that some people don't like angioplasty and there are non-interventional cardiologists that don't recommend it. They seem to be significantly outnumbered by cardiologists that do do angioplasties. My relatives knew several people who had had multiple stents and were living fruitful lives.

So go, have the angiogram, and hope for a false positive. At worst you have an angioplasty-happy cardiologist. There are side effects to stents, but the drug-eluting ones have only a small percentage of problems. It's all scary to deal with, but it beats the alternative. For instance, the risk of complications during an angioplasty is about 1%, for healthy people it's less; the risk of stroke from some of the other medications is 1%. Risk from not treating a blockage....well, who knows, but you could die. Fast.

The only thing to be wary of, from what I read here, is bypass surgery. If that's recommended, for god's sake get a second opinion. It doesn't mean you should never get bypass surgery, but understand what you're getting in to.

I'm sure they froze the groin area before they inserted the tube/wire (I can't remember what it's called). It's great that everything was great with you. First I have to have the echo, and then the nuclear stress test. Did you have any chest pain previously? I don't, thank goodness, but still, my cardiograms are showing abnormal - there is something wrong somewhere. I'm going to my GP on Monday to discuss the results of my cardiogram. The cardiologist that I saw after the treadmill test, didn't give me exact information about the results. He just said abnormal, and I sat there like an idiot and didn't ask him what exactly was abnormal. He said he can't see blockages on a piece of paper.