By talking to a patient and examining the heart with hands, eyes, ears and stethoscope a Cardiologist can usually get a pretty good idea if there is anything wrong and if so what it is. Most patients will then need some tests to confirm the clinical impression or further investigate. For some patients their investigations will be normal and reassuring. For those in which we do find a heart problem – knowledge is power – making the right diagnosis means we can treat the condition and in many situations reduce the risk to that patient.
There is often a choice of investigations for a particular symptom – especially for chest pain. I believe that this choice should be tailored to the individual and their situation and make a point of involving patients in these decisions.
Electrocardiogram
An electrocardiogram is a very simple test that can give loads of really valuable information about the heart. 12 lead ECGs are recordings of the electrical activity of the heart at the instant they are taken.
Echocardiogram
An Echocardiogram is an ultrasound examination of the heart. It is performed by highly specialised cardiac technicians with an ultrasound probe placed at various positions on the chest.
Angiography
An angiogram is a picture of an arterial blood vessel. Arteries are the blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood from the heart and lungs to our organs and limbs.
24-hour Holter
This is a continuous recording of the heart rhythm for a day. You have three ECG electrodes placed on your body linked to a tape recorder.
Myocardial Perfusion Scan
This is a specialist heart scan actually looking at blood flow in the heart muscle. Two separate scans are performed on separate days, once after a form of stress and once at rest.