Re: what does it mean if i fail a cardiac stress test
Hi Nancy,
A stress test is to check how well your heart pumps blood to your exercising muscles. There are various levels of result - for example, the result may be a "marginal" pass or "marginal" failure. If you fail the implication is that for one reason or another the blood supply is deficient, and the cardiologist will normally go on to check the heart's pumping action and the condition of its surrounding arteries. This usually means having an Angiogram which is a form of x-ray that images the heart pumping, and shows the passage of blood through the arteries. An angiogram is one of the most common tools used to examine the heart.
Angiograms have low risk, are almost painless, and are over in about 20-30 minutes.
Cheers, Beefy.
The Following User Says Thank You to Beefsteak For This Useful Post: ssrman2004 (07-14-2011)
Re: what does it mean if i fail a cardiac stress test
HI When I failed a cardiac stress test I had a cardiac cath and then mitral valve repair. They might nowdays do more angiograms, those are a lot easier on the patient.
Re: what does it mean if i fail a cardiac stress test
It depends on why you failed. In my case, my heart went into an irregular rhythm and they stopped the test. What did they see? Was it evidence of a blockage? Did you have chest pain?
Re: what does it mean if i fail a cardiac stress test
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gojoe
It depends on why you failed. In my case, my heart went into an irregular rhythm and they stopped the test. What did they see? Was it evidence of a blockage? Did you have chest pain?
What did they see on your ultrasound with regards to the irregular rhythm?
Re: what does it mean if i fail a cardiac stress test
They already knew my heart was enlarged from an ultrasound. What happened on the nuclear stress test showed up on the ekg when the my pvcs became a lot more frequent and then I went into bigeminy.
Re: what does it mean if i fail a cardiac stress test
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gojoe
They already knew my heart was enlarged from an ultrasound. What happened on the nuclear stress test showed up on the ekg when the my pvcs became a lot more frequent and then I went into bigeminy.
Does this mean you are restricted on what you can do cario-wise, like running?
Re: what does it mean if i fail a cardiac stress test
Not really. Even though I "failed" the stress test, a cardiac cath found no blockages and my doc wants me to exercise. I guess you can fail stress tests for reasons other than coronary artery disease. I do take meds that slow my heart and that is the main factor limiting how much I can exercise now.
