My mom got the following report after her stress test:

l. Fair exercise tolerance
2. Suspicious for anteroseptal ischemia
3. No chest pain or arrhythmia during stress test

Perfusion scan report to follow

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More Impressions:

1. Mild inferior wall ischemia
2. Mild proximal wall ischemia
3. Preserved LV systolic function


I get the impression that she took the stress test, and the doctor called and said he wanted to see her. It sounds like he didn't discuss the results with her, just gave them to her and suggested she think about having an angioplasty (I think...? She was telling me this on the phone, and her details were a bit scrambled.)

Anyway, prior to this, she felt fine; she thought it was just a routine stress test since she had a stent put in her heart about four years ago. She now thinks something is seriously wrong. Can anyone here translate the above test results into plain English for me?

Thanks a million!

Originally posted by Oriole Adams:
l. Fair exercise tolerance
2. Suspicious for anteroseptal ischemia
3. No chest pain or arrhythmia during stress test

More Impressions:

1. Mild inferior wall ischemia
2. Mild proximal wall ischemia
3. Preserved LV systolic function


I am not a physician. However, from my limited knowledge of this: Item 1 states that your falls somewhere in the mid-range of exercise tolerance, 2. That there is evidence of heart muscle lacking oxygen (ischemia) in the front portion of the heart, slightly offcenter towards the middle. This area has blood supplied from the left anterior descending coronary artery. From the second set of three, the inferior region is the backside tissue that is showing some lack of oxygen, this is most likely supplied by the right coronary artery, but could also be from the circumflex. The proximal lateral region describes an area along the horizonal long axis--I think this relates back to the anteroseptal region, or the LAD supplied region at least, based onthe distance away from apex. The top part #3 is good (in a way) that no angina was reported from your mother based upon the ischemia that is being observed. The reason I state it like that is that not everyone feels the pain (angina) associated with ischemia. The no arrthymias is,however, a good thing--her heart had normal sinus rhythms throughout. The other #3 of perserved LV systolic function is a good thing. It means her ejection fraction is considered normal (above 45-50%).

For the defined regions of the heart, here is a reference:


http://www.asecho.org/freepdf/Segmentation-Final1.pdf