Advanced Cardiac Diagnostics
Diagnostic tests and procedures help your physician determine if a heart attack has occurred and, if so, what damage your heart suffered. Diagnostic tests and procedures can also alert your physician to coronary artery disease. It’s important for your doctor to have this information, which is often the basis of your treatment plan.

Diagnostic tests and procedures fall into two categories: invasive and non-invasive. The name says it all: non-invasive tests take place outside your body. That means no needles, instruments, or fluids go into your body. Invasive tests and procedures do take a closer look and can include everything from a blood test to surgery. And LRMC’s heart care team can diagnose the most minor to the most complex cardiac condition using the latest in technology.  

A blood test is one method used to determine if a heart attack has occurred by checking the levels of cardiac enzymes and proteins. When a heart attack has occurred, the blood test can provide information about the degree and extent of damage. Your physician may use blood test results to determine the degree of coronary artery disease (CAD), which refers to blocked arteries and impeded blood flow.  

An electrocardiogram, often called an ECG or EKG, records the electrical activity of the heart so your physician can assess the timing and duration of each beat. It’s one way your physician can determine whether a heart attack has occurred. 

A chest x-ray shows an image of your chest cavity including your heart, lungs, breast bone, and ribs. This test tells you physician if you heart is enlarged, or if fluid is accumulating around the heart sac. 

Echocardiography uses sound waves to produce images of your heart showing its size, structure, and motion. The technician uses a hand-held device called a transducer, which is passed over your chest. The transducer uses high-frequency sound waves, ultrasound, to produce an image. This test helps your doctor determine if there is an abnormal heart beat (arrhythmia). 

Holter monitoring records the electrical activity of your heart (your heart beat) as you go about your usual daily routine. You doctor also may refer to this test as an ambulatory ECG or EKG.  Transesophageal echocardiography uses high-frequency sound waves to give an image of the heart, much like the non-invasive echocardiogram. The difference is the transducer is a small tube passed down the throat and into the esophagus. This test provides a detailed picture that identifies abnormal rhythms (heart beat) and structural abnormalities in the heart.

Stress tests visually monitor blood flow through your heart when the muscle is working and at rest. A non-invasive type is an exercise stress test, is often called a treadmill test, where conductive pads are placed on your chest and connected to a monitor that records your vital signs (heart rate, blood pressure), and how easily you tire when exercising as you walk on a treadmill. This test gives your physician information to diagnose coronary artery disease and the reason for angina (chest pain). This stress test type provides valuable information for planning a heart-healthy exercise program. Another type is the nuclear stress test and provides more detail than the non-invasive treadmill test. Thallium, or another radioactive substance, is injected into the veins. As the thallium disperses through the bloodstream, physicians and cardiovascular technicians can measure blood flow during exercise and when you are resting. This test can show where and to what degree your coronary arteries are blocked, can help determine the extent of muscle damage from a heart attack, and can help your doctor pinpoint the cause of chest pain. Often, a doctor will order a thallium stress test to plan a safe level of exercise after a patient has had a heart attack or has been diagnosed with coronary artery disease.

Computer imaging includes a number of more sophisticated methods for gaining an image of your heart. Collectively, these tests are referred to as tomography and can include familiar name such as CT, CAT, PET, and MRI. The important point is you lie still while a machine scans your chest. A computer enhances and refines the image, which helps your doctor diagnose conditions such as aortic disease and diseases of the heart and surrounding tissue. A CT scan can show if there is a mass on your heart.  

Did you know LRMC has the only 64 slice CT low radiation unit in Lancaster County? Requiring little more than an injection of x-ray contrast through an IV placed in the arm, this breakthrough technology gives physicians the ability to view the smallest of arteries in the brain, heart, and peripheral vascular system. It captures images as thin as a credit card in only a fraction of the time of traditional angiography. Patients can leave as soon as their exam is complete and the risk of complications is lower because an arterial puncture is not required.  

Cardiac catheterization refers to a group of procedures used to look at blood flow to, from, and through the heart muscle. LRMC’s newly-renovated catheterization lab is unsurpassed in quality and state-of-the-art technology for cardiac diagnosis. The name catheterization refers to the manner in which these tests are performed: a thin hollow tube (a catheter) is used to inject a dye into veins. This dye, which is visible in an X-ray, shows the cardiologist where blockages, if any, occur and how much the blockage impedes blood flow. A diagnostic catheterization also gives information about the muscle strength of the heart, and can measure blood pressure inside the heart and oxygen levels of the blood.