Your referring physician will order the appropriate test for your care. To familiarize you
with the range of cardiac nuclear tests we perform, each one is described below.
Treadmill Stress Thallium
The treadmill stress test, uses exercise to induce the heart to 85% of its maximum activity. This requires you to walk on a treadmill for anywhere from 8-12 minutes. At this point, the patient receives an injection of thallium, an inert isotope that along with the proper diagnostic equipment provides elegant images of the hearts myocardial (muscle) tissues. This test can be used to diagnose coronary artery disease (CAD) with a confidence interval of 90-95%. Total testing time for the procedure is approximately 1.5 hours.
Doubutamine-Stress Thalium
This
test is a procedure designed for patients who—for various reasons—cannot complete the 8-10 minute treadmill portion (above). Doubatmine, a cardiac stimulator like adrenaline, is then injected intravenously to induce an equivalent amount of stress in the heart as would be sustained in the treadmill test. The heart is imaged at its peak activity according to the protocol described above.
Dobutamine Stress MUGA with First Pass
This test is ideal for the assessment of your heart’s ejection fraction (contraction efficiency) with rest and with dobutamine stress. The comparison of your rest and stress ejection fractions can be helpful in guiding your physician with regards to your cardiac risk assessment, in addition to a number of other clinical applications. Our stress MUGA (multi-gated acquisition) protocol obtains information regarding the change of your heart’s ejection fraction with dobutamine stress in addition to assessing for pulmonary (lung) hypertension. Your test will take approximately 1.5 hours.
Additional Services
Advanced Nuclear Cardiology, P.L.L.C, also provides cardiac and vascular imaging services, including the following:
• Echocardiographic testing of the heart
• Vascular ultrasound imaging
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