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Lifesaving Heart Tests You Should Know About

Lifesaving Heart Tests You Should Know About

Preventive Checkup

A large portion of the Indian population suffers from cardiovascular diseases, or runs the risk of doing so in the near future. Many people generally choose to ignore symptoms like a small pain in the heart or breathlessness. But when it comes to heart, both precision as well as caution is required; even the most seemingly small symptoms can be associated to major ailments.

Mentioned below are some of medical checkups related to heart that can actually be life-saving if taken in time. Read closely:

Cardiac Calcium Scoring

Also known as a heart scan, this preventive heart checkup is a carried out to detect the presence of calcified plaques in the arteries of your heart. These plaques are a warning sign of coronary artery disease which in turn are major causes of heart attack. Since calcified plaques can occur even 10 years before the actual heart attack, taking this test can help your doctor understand the signs and symptoms, and remedy the ailment.

High-Sensitivity C – Reactive Protein Test

As per the American Heart Association, hs-CRP tests are taken by people with an immediate risk of heart attack in 10 years. High levels of hs-CRP in the blood of an individual could signify narrowing of coronary arteries.

A CRP test can be prescribed to you inorder to check for inflammation. Inflammation could indicate infections, rheumatoid arthritis, heart diseases, chronic inflammatory disease and so on.

Carotid Intimal Medial Thickness Test

Also known as the Intima-media thickness, this test tracks atherosclerotic ailments. This means it detects arrest, progression or the regression of atherosclerosis. The thicknesses of the two innermost layers of the wallsof the artery, namely the tunica intima and the tunica media,are measured by this. For the measurement anything from an external ultrasound, invasive ultrasound catheter to imaging modalities can be used.

Stress Echocardiography

Mostly used to detect a decrease in the flow of blood to the heart, resulting from narrowing of coronary arteries, this test is also used to see if the heart muscles are working well in pumping blood to the heart. Using the stress echocardiography in addition to the standard stress test increases the accuracy in women upto 85%. It also helps understand if the condition of the patient’s heart disease is severe enough to require a bypass or stent treatment.

Understanding ECG

Understanding ECG

ECG

ECG stands for electrocardiogram, or a machine meant to examine the electrical activities of the heart. Also known as ECG, the machine,during the test, presents the electrical activity of the heart in the form of waves much like line tracings on the paper. The tracings comprise of dips and spikes together called waves.

When Would You Need an ECG Test?

As seen in the best ECG checkup facilities in Rajasthan, an Electrocardiogram can be utilized to check the size and position of the chambers of your heart, the rhythm of your heart and whether it is normal, any damage to the heart or the effects of drugs or devices, such as a pacemaker, that are used to control the heart.

There can be many reasons because of which an individual may be suggested to take an ECG test, some of which are –

  • To detect the reasons behind unexplained pressure or chest pains.
  • To discover the causes behind various symptoms related to heart diseases.
  • To detect if the walls of the chambers of the heart have thickened.
  • To find out the effectiveness of medications, also side effects if any.
  • To check the efficiency of the devices attached to the heart.
  • To examine the state of the heart when a patient is ridden with ailments like high blood pressure, diabetes, high levels of cholesterol and so on

An ECG test can also be advised to patients before a surgery or when they have a family history of heart diseases.

What Does it Entail?

An ECG instrument, also known as EKG, is a portable machine which is why the test can be taken anywhere, be it in your doctor’s chamber or during other tests at the hospital. In this test –

  • The patient must lie on a bed or table.
  • The patient’s chest, arms and legs will be shaved.
  • Electrodes will be attached on the body, on areas like chest, arms and legs.
  • The electrodes will be attached to the machine tracing the activity of the heart
  • The doctor may ask the patient to breathe normally or hold the breath during the test.
  • The procedure may take 10-15 minutes approximately.
  • Once the test is done, the electrodes will be detached from the patient’s body.

Based on the instructions provide the top ECG checkup facilities in Rajasthan, patients must discuss their health conditions well with their doctors, prior to the test.