Tests

Electrocardiogram

Electrocardiogram (ECG):    This is an electrical recording of heart activity.  This may show when the heart rhythm is abnormal (arrhythmia) or when the heart is too slow requiring a pacemaker (heart block).

Abnormal patterns of electrical activity in the heart may be a sign of underlying heart disease, particularly coronary heart disease or hypertension.

In the investigation of palpitations or dizzy spells a small portable ECG monitor may be worn for 24 hours, or occasionally longer, to record symptoms that may be intermittent (Holter monitor).

ABP Monitoring

24 Hour Blood Pressure Monitor:    Since blood pressure varies widely throughout the day a portable monitor, worn for 24 hours, may be used to measure this variation and to identify true hypertension.

Coronary Angiography

Coronary Angiography:    A coronary angiogram is an x-ray investigation of the heart and coronary arteries.  In the North Hampshire Cardiac Practice this is the gold standard for the diagnosis of coronary heart disease.  This is an invasive procedure during which a long, thin tube (catheter) is passed, under local anaesthetic, from an artery in the groin or wrist to the heart and dye is injected to show the heart arteries on x-ray.  Although the investigation itself is brief the site at which the catheter is inserted at the groin or wrist is monitored for several hours after the procedure and therefore usually requires a day case inpatient stay.

Exercising Testing 

Stress Test (Exercise Test):    Patients with chest pain or breathlessness during exercise may be investigated by monitoring blood pressure and ECG during exercise on a treadmill.  The ECG of patients with ischaemic heart disease may change during exercise even though it may be normal at rest. 

Echocardiography 

Echocardiogram:    This is an ultrasound scan of the heart.  The structure and function of the heart can be visualised with the flow of blood through the heart chambers.  In patients who are breathless or who have heart murmurs the echocardiogram is used to diagnose disease of the heart valves or a weak or enlarged heart.

Occasionally a very detailed echocardiogram of the internal heart structures is required, performed from a miniature probe passed to the back of the heart, down the oesophagus, under sedation and local anaesthesia (transoesophageal echocardiogram).

CT and MRI Scanning 

CT and MRI Scanning:    These are used in a number of specific heart conditions to assess the structure of the heart and its' related major arteries (pulmonary artery or aorta).  Most commonly these are used to diagnose a clot in the lung (pulmonary embolus) or enlarged aorta (aneurysm).