Stress Testing
What to Expect: PET/CT Stress Testing
A PET/CT stress test is an advanced diagnostic option for finding the cause of new or worsening chest pain or shortness of breath, determining the risk of heart disease, evaluating how cardiovascular treatment is progressing, and following a patient’s recovery after a heart attack or other major coronary event. Most of our PET scanning and PET stress tests performed by our physicians are done in our Summerlin office.
A PET/CT stress test gives your heart specialist images of blood flow to the heart muscle. To generate these images of your heart, you will receive infusions of a radioactive tracer through an IV. The radioactive tracer has no significant side effects and is not a contrast dye. It does not contain iodine and will not harm your kidneys. PET/CT stress testing is safe and can help your cardiologist diagnose heart disease accurately, allowing for a more comprehensive treatment plan.
We also measure vitals like heart rhythm, heart rate, and blood pressure during this time.
What Is a Stress Test, and Why Is It Important?
If you’ve experienced chest pain or palpitations or your primary care physician or cardiologist believes you are at significant risk of arterial blockage, you may be referred for a stress test. Stress testing is a very common, informative, and non-invasive diagnostic procedure to learn more about how your heart is functioning.
The mechanism by which stress testing works is in the name. By putting physical stress on the heart, we can measure how it reacts at rest and after strain is placed on it with exercise. We can also gauge the heart’s reaction after that stressful event. Typically stress tests will involve the patient walking on a treadmill or exercising on a stationary bike for some time to increase their heart rate.
By doing this, we can learn more about: