Stressing out the heart
Of exercise stress tests and other investigative methods to detect coronary artery disease.
MANY patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), also known as ischaemic heart, may have no symptoms, and when investigated, they have a normal electrocardiogram (ECG) and chest X-ray at rest.
However, with exercise, like climbing up stairs or slopes, symptoms of ischaemia (oxygen starvation) like chest tightness or breathlessness may develop. This would raise the suspicion of the presence of a severe stenosis (narrowing/blockage) in a coronary artery.
An exercise stress test can reveal this in a controlled clinic setting, either through exercise on a treadmill or stationery bicycle, or it can also be artificially induced with stimulant drugs to achieve the desired physical burden on the heart.
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