Nuclear Exercise Stress Test Results
Back round – 54 with bad family CHD history (both parents and twin brother had heart attacks)

Several months ago I developed some strange left arm sensations (pins and needles, I posted this about two weeks ago). So, doing my routine annual check up I requested a full cardio Vascular work up. My GP doctor recommended the Thallium stress test. He said it was very accurate and non invasive. From the resurach I conducted it appears to be in the 90 to 94 range for accuracy. I have just got the results, they were all normal, I am so relieved! Both the EKG and the nuclear images were normal. So far my careful and scientific lifestyle has allowed me to avoid the fate of my bad genes. For anyone planning to have this test it is no big deal and it only takes two or three hours. My results are posted below. I welcome any feedback, both positive and negative.

Images were taken over short, vertical and horizontal axis at rest and after exertion
There was uniform tracer uptake at both rest and after exertion
The study showed normal thickening of left ventricle in systole
Ejection fraction normal, 62%
Protocol Bruce
Completed 18 min and 35 sec out of possible 21.
Max heart rate was 176 with BP at 204/84
EKG showed normal sinus rhythm with no significant ST-T wave abnormalities
No chest pains or discomfort
No arrhythmias or EKG changes
Both test were negative and no underlying ischemia
Excellent exercise tolerance for stated age, 19.3 meets

Notes: I had to call the Dr Office to request the written results form the hospital. They are by far more informative and allow for much improved understanding of the resuts.

Thanks in advance

...oh Rig...I wish, I wish, I wish...these results are better than normal for your age.....I doubt I was there at 35....be glad. Look elsewhere for the source of your tingling...
Could be a type of nerve damage perhaps or even poor circulation to the nerves from a poor sleep position...likely not arterial but a vascular study could rule this out definitely (highly unlikely in the face of no other evident vascular or peripheral arterial blockage).
Be happy!! And good luck on finding the actual source....:)

jan

PS LOL, even now "fixed" through open heart surgery, I have never had results like that since they first looked at me two years into chest pain! My longest surviving on the Bruce protocal (recently and 2.5 years post bypass with way better other somatic signs) was 2.5 minutes 10 days or so ago LOL! I was as proud as punch because I achieved target HR of 148 without dying LOL or showing ischemia!

Congratulations Rig...a very nice result all 'round.


Now you can assign those paraesthesias in your arm to normal wear and tear on your spinal, shoulder, or wrist joints.
(Told you so;) ;) )

Thank you Jan-BC and Lenin for the feedback- much appreciated.

In general some things I learned from the experience are as follows:

Get used to a treadmill before taking the test. Go to the gym and get familiar with the speed and incline changes. You will benefit by being familiar with maintaining your balance.

Push yourself as far as you can. I told the doctor I wanted to test myself to the limits of my endurance and he said fine. Well at the 9 or 10-min point he said he had all the data needed, my HR was at max and I can stop. I asked if there was any problems or medical reason to stop the test and he said no. So, I said I prefer to continue and he said that would be fine. Well, I did so and went to almost the 19-min point. At which time he conveyed to me that my exercise tolerance was excellent and that the EKG looked great all the way to the finish. My point is that when you are paying good money for the test you should get your monies worth. With nine other people waiting for tests I am almost certain there goal was to get the minimum time in for each and move them along as quick as possible.

There are many times and opportunities in life to exceed the 85% max HR point. So, If I was going to have a heart related problems at the 85% plus point, then I prefer to find this out in the hospital.

what was your max heart rate... on my nuclear stress test i could of done it for a very long time (i'm an avid runner).. they finally just told me to stop at around 15 minutes. The highest my HR hit was 168. I'm 41 years old. When i run my HR stays between 140 and 160.

My max HR was 176 and I am 54. In fact all my results are listed at the top of this thread. I recommend you ask your doc for a copy of the hospital report. It is very detailed and will give you much more information then the doc will. In fact my doc had his staff call and leave me a 5 word message "your test results were normal". I went to the office and picked up a copy myself and resurched all the results myself. Armed with the report you can see the whole picture. I swim all the time so this helped me get far into the test. The test has a total of seven stages grouped by 3 mins each. It ends at 21 min. This is the full Bruce Protocol test.

On my test the report said the ejection fraction normal, it was 62%. Can someone tell me what is considered the low end, high end and average? In other words, what is the range for the EF?

Thanks

Rule of thumb is generally +55% is normal (some say +50%.)
I doubt there are many who can get more than 75%, but the data on the high end is scant.

I found a study that mentioned the incidence for a small proportion of young men people taking tri-cyclic antidepressants of over 75% ejection rates, so I guess that might be viewed as the upper safe end. Also some mention of a rare disease (Japanese name) that can overstimulate the left ventricle.

In that vein, probably amphetamines can do the same.