Treadmill test,angiogram,cardioscan,which one is not harm to health and which one better? -

recently i have gone under treatment for angina ,that time i felt some thing heavy in my chest and breathing difficulties after four days icu treatment and ecg test doctor toldme you are advised to do treadmill test and if required need angiogram later iam diabetic type 2 and taking tablets metformin and diamicron and for hypertension since 15 years cholestrol controlled with statin regular dose 20 mg for hyper tensio .tab amlor and conchor and one tablet iam not remember the name.and newly clopidogrel and aspirin also any cardiology doctor there pls help me iam 40 years old 169 cm height 79 kg wait.

If you are able to walk, an exercise stress test is the least invasive procedure. Essentially, it stresses your heart (exercise increases demand for blood flow so the heart must pump harder and faster) and they look for EKG changes. You can also do a stress echocardiogram, where they essentially ultrasound the heart to check for wall motion. While it can be used with exercise (you would stop to have the US done) they often use a chemical to speed up the heart rate as though someone was exercising. Nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging is more invasive and involves injecting a radiotracer. It will essentially delineate how the muscle is working and whether there is any evidence of damage. If there is, an angiogram, given your history, is the next best bet. If you have evidence of wall motion abnormality on echo or a compelling EKG, it is likely they will move right to angio in a person of your age with diabetes. During angio, they will insert a cathedar in your femoral artery, snake it up through the atery to the arteries in your heart and inject a special tracer that can be viewed using radiologic equipment. The cardiologist can then tell whether there is a blockage by watching the way that the tracer proceeds through the arteries. I ve seen it done many times, including on my own uncle, and I have never actually seen a significant complication aside from some additional cathedar site bleeding. There is a risk of stroke though it is also very small compared to the benefits for a person with your health history.

huh?

Stress testing (treadmill) is good for looking at your heart s response to exercise and looking for coronary artery disease. Stress testing is the recommended baseline test because depending on those results, they can tell if an angiogram is needed at all, which could be a costly expense that could of been avoided. If angiogram is recommended, let them do it. It is the most invasive of all procedures used for diagnostic purposes but gives a ton of information about the heart s function and structure. Almost any possible diagnosis can be made with angiogram plus certain procedures can be done inside the cath lab such as stenting and balloon dilation which are much less riskier as compared to heart surgery. Cardiac scans such as MRI and CT are relatively safe but CT does put off significant amounts of radiation but timing for CT is much less than MRI and MRI can have complications if you have previous stenting in your heart or other metal materials in your body. All of the tests described above have minimal statistical risk and a death rate maximum of only 0.11%. Most problems are complications but not usually death.

Testing machines are not hazardous to health if properly used.

The stress testing and nuclear imaging is very non-invasive. Had the complete set 2 years ago. It s also fascinating to watch the radiotracers form the shape of your heart (the screen is right above you to see). Can t get me into a closed MRI without needing a strong sedative, but these two procedures I d do it anytime. Usually I have a bad reaction to contrast dyes, but the radiotracer injection caused no effect. Only precaution after the testing is the reminder to drink more water to clear it out of the bladder. The treadmill test will test your endurance. You ll feel like your ran a marathon when it s done, but they want to monitor your heart under stress (I thought my legs would collapse under me). Angiograms are totally invasive and the results are a hit and miss. They tried it first on my mom who had a 90% aorta blockage but couldn t remove the clot. She had to have a quad bypass (that is something you DON T ever want. Mom is an ox, stronger than most men even, but it reduced her to an invalid for a year. Today the docs are amazed, as she s one of the few that improved, not got worse due to the surgery -- but it s a l-o-n-g recovery). Do the stress/nuclear first, the only pain involved is a shot and that treadmill for about 10 minutes or so. But if you are going to get both, it s going to take hours to finish.

treadmill - less invasive angiogram - more invasive angiogram is better for figuring out the problem